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This  Volume  is  for 
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«  .     •     •    STATE      OF 

:  MISSOURI 


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MISSOURI  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  .....  .  ......  .jQ 

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PRIVATE  COLLEGES  AND  UNIVERSITIES.........,.* 

JUNIOR  COLLEGES,...,,,  .......  .......  ........  ,  ......  1...O 

HIGH  SCHOOLS   -  1919 

"First  Class  .....................  ...........  .....  ..................,..* 

First  Oass  with  Teaclter  Training  Courses,,.....^ 

Second  Class.  .....................  ....  .......  ...  ......  ,  .....  ..o 

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pe  Girardeau 


THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION 

OF  TEACHERS  FOR 
AMERICAN  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

A  STUDY  BASED  UPON  AN  EXAMINATION  OF  TAX-SUPPORTED 
NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  THE  STATE  OF  MISSOURI 

By 
WILLIAM  S.  LEARNED,  WILLIAM  C.  BAGLEY 

AND  CHAELES  A.  McMiiERY,  GEORGE  D.  STEAYEE 
WALTEE  F.  DEAKBOEN,  ISAAC  L.  KANDEL,  HOMEE  W.  JOSSELYN 


NEW  YORK 

THE  CARNEGIE  FOUNDATION 

FOR  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  TEACHING 

576  FIFTH  AVENUE 


D.  B.  UPDIKE  •  THE  MERRYMOUNT  PRESS  •  BOSTON 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

PREFACE  xv 

I.  INTRODUCTION 

A.  CHARACTER  AND  CIRCUMSTANCES  OF  THE  ENQUIRY  3 

B.  METHOD  AND  PERSONNEL  5 

C.  A  GENERAL  STATEMENT  OF  CONCLUSIONS  7 

Democracy  and  Education;  Education  and  the  Teacher;  New  Standards 
Essential  for  Genuine  Education;  A  New  Training  for  Teachers;  The 
Teacher  and  the  Public;  The  Present  Crisis  in  Public  Education 

II.  THE  STATE  OF  MISSOURI  16 

Surface 'Features;  Characteristics  of  Population;  Occupations;  Political 
History;  Educational  Development 

III.  ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

A.  THE  ORIGIN  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  22 

Earliest  Advocacy  of  Teacher-training;  Early  Experiments;  Development 
of  Public  Opinion;  Example  of  Germany;  Efforts  of  Educational  Leaders; 
The  Term  " Normal  School;"  Teacher-training  in  Germany;  Legislative 
Activity  in  Massachusetts;  Normal  School  Development  in  Connecticut; 
The  New  York  Practice;  Normal  School  or  Academy?  The  Normal  School 
in  1 866 ;  Early  View  of  the  Function  of  a  Normal  School 

B.  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  MISSOURI  34 

Early  Efforts;  Joseph  Baldwin;  Three  State  Institutions  authorized; 
Method  of  Locating  Educational  Institutions;  Changes  in  Status  and  in 
Scope  of  Work;  1871-191^;  Growth  in  Numbers;  Opposition;  Financial 
Struggles;  Effect  of  Poverty  on  the  Schools;  Relations  with  Colleges  and 
Universities 

IV.  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL  OF  MISSOURI  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

A.  THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  42 

Control  First  vested  in  a  Single  Board;  Objections  to  the  Single  Board; 
Separate  Boards  —  Contemporary  Criticism;  Attempts  to  unify  the  Schools 
Educationally;  Present  Operation  of  the  Separate  Boards;  Function  of  a 
Board  not  Understood ;  What  is  the  Function  of  a  Board  of  Regents?  Party 
Politics  in  the  Boards ;  Weakness  of  the  Boards  in  Material  as  well  as  in 
Educational  Problems;  Lack  of  Unity  in  Policies  affecting  the  Whole  State; 
Each  School  a  Law  unto  Itself;  Educational  Diversity  of  the  Institutions; 
Loss  to  the  Schools  of  Critical  Re  vision;  The  Normal  Schools  versus  the  State 
University;  Sources  of  Rivalry;  Effects  of  Institutional  Competition;  The 
Local  Board  System  Responsible 

B-  PROPOSALS  FOR  A  BETTER  ORGANIZATION  OF  PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING  FOR 

TEACHERS  54 

Preparation  of  Teachers  a  Homogeneous  Undertaking;  A  Reorganized 
University;  A  Professional  Board  of  Executives;  Effects  of  Proposed  Re- 


iv  CONTENTS 

organization;  The  City  Training  Schools  should  be  included;  Voluntary 
Cooperation 

C.  REORGANIZATION  OB"  STATE  EDUCATIONAL  CONTROL  63 

Principle  of  Centralization ;  The  State  Unit  of  Administration;  Advantages 
of  State  Control ;  Conditions  of  Successful  State  Administration ;  Unifica- 
tion of  Control  in  Missouri;  Experiments  in  Other  States;  Lessons  from 
Recent  Experience ;  Relations  of  Constituent  Departments 

V.  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

A.  GENERAL  FUNCTION  70 

1.  The  Existing  Conception.  Early  Conception  of  the  Function  of  a  Normal 
School ;  Subsequent  Variations ;  Special  Considerations  affecting  a  Nor- 
mal School's  Conception  of  its  Function ;  Pressure  for  Academic  Credit; 
Effect  of  Local  Control;  "Democracy"  the  Justification;  Professional 
Training  long  Uncertain  as  to  its  Method 

2.  Normal  Schools  should  train  Teachers.  Obstacles  to  Professional  Training       78 
are  Disappearing;  Unity  of  Aim  Increasing;  A  Normal  School's  Obliga- 
tion to  the  State 

B.  SCOPE  OF  ORGANIZATION  8£ 

1.  Historical  View,  Early  Work  chiefly  for  Elementary  Teachers ;  Prepara- 
tion of  High  School  Teachers;  Normal  Schools  and  High  Schools ;  High 
Schools  and  University;  Readjustment  of  Normal  Schools  for  Higher 
Instruction;  Results  of  Reorganization 

2.  How  should  the  Scope  of  a  Normal  School's  Activities  be  determined  ?ef  Stand-        89 
ard"  Institutions  and  Others;  The  Present  Policy  of  Missouri  Normal 
Schools — Pressure  of  Local  Situation;  Example  of  Other  Institutions; 
Expansion  a  Matter  of  Pride;  Personal  Expansion;  Service  of  Normal 
Schools  in  enforcing  the  Idea  of  Professional  Training;  Criticism  by  Uni- 
versities partly  Ill-founded;  The  Scope  of  an  Institution's  Work  should 

be  determined  in  View  of  all  the  Facts;  Organization  of  Criticism  needed 

VL  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  MISSOUEI  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

A.  TEACHERS  99 

Age,  Sex,  and  Parentage ;  Educational  Equipment;  Secondary  and  Higher 
Training — Degrees;  Degrees  Classified;  Geography  of  Training;  Com- 
binations of  Training;  Graduate  Degrees;  Retardation  in  Training;  Re- 
tardation and  Graduate  Work;  Experience;  Kind  of  Experience;  Teach- 
ing Assignment;  Length  of  Program;  What  is  a  Reasonable  Load?  Good 
Teaching  as  Exacting  as  Research;  Productive  Scholarship;  Economic 
Status — Family  and  Dependents;  Length  of  Tenure;  Salaries — Varia- 
tion among  the  Schools;  Comparison  with  the  University;  The  Best  Paid 
Groups;  Insurance;  Teachers  at  Harris  Teachers  College 

B.  STUDENTS  117 
Age  and  Sex — Nationality  and  Nativity;  Parental  Occupation  and  In- 
come— Size  of  Family;  Choice  of  Vocation — Other  Teachers  in  Family; 
Financial  Attraction;  Distance  from  School;  Previous  Education;  Quality 

of  the  Normal  School  Student;  Comparison  of  Secondary  Training  in  High 
School  and  in  Normal  School;  Attendance  at  Colleges  and  Other  Normal 


CONTENTS  v 

Schools;  Teaching  Experience;  Immediate  Intentions  of  Students ;  Study 
Elsewhere;  Students  at  Harris  Teachers  College 

VII.    CUEEICULA  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

A.  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS  IN   THE    CONSTRUCTION  OF    CURRICULA   FOR  THE 

PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS  128 

1.  Standards  of  Admission.  Professional  Subject-matter  Well  Developed; 
Chief  Question  is  One  of  Purchase  and  Distribution  of  Training;  Mis- 
souri has  Temporized  with  Compromises ;  An  Adequate  Policy  Needed ; 
Should  Preparatory  Curricula  be  Prescribed? 

2.  Residence  Requirements  131 
a.  Prolonged  Preparation  Needed  for  Teachers  of  All  Grades  Alike; 

Why  Longer  Training  for  High  School  Teaching?  Is  High  School 
Instruction  More  "  Advanced"?  Social  Distinctions  implied  between 
Elementary  and  High  Schools;  The  Elementary  Teacher  versus  the 
High  School  Teacher;  Contrast  in  Teachers  the  Chief  Obstacle  to 
Progress;  Distinctions  in  Training  should  Disappear;  The  Outlook 
for  such  a  Program 

6.  Adequate  Residence  Requirements  depend  upon  Prospect  of  Ex-  139 
tended  Service ;  Service  of  Women  now  terminates  with  Marriage ; 
Reasons  offered  for  the  Present  Practice ;  Will  the  Married  Teacher 
neglect  her  Home?  Will  the  Married  Woman  prove  a  Less  Efficient 
Teacher?  Marriage  an  Advantageous  Qualification  for  a  Teacher  of 
Children;  Enormous  Waste  of  the  Present  System;  Conservation  of 
Professional  Effort  in  Europe ;  Absence  of  Organized  Effort  among 
Elementary  Teachers  in  America;  Married  Teachers  would  Require 
Better  Conditions ;  Effect  of  Prolonged  Tenure  on  Training 

3.  Prescription  versus  Election  of  Studies.  Definition  of  Prescription;  Theory      144 
of  *f  Equivalence"  of  Courses  for  Professional  Purposes ;  The  Professional 
Student  not  Qualified  to  Elect;  Sequence  Difficult  to  Maintain;  Is  the 
Attitude  of  the  Student  improved  by  Election?  Effect  of  Election  on 
"Initiative" 

4.  The  Extent  and  Criteria  of  Curriculum  Differentiation  148 
a.  Incidental  versus  Organized  Professional  Training ;  Arithmetic ;  Other 

Elementary  Subjects;  High  School  Subjects;  Special  Curricula  in 
Normal  Schools  for  High  School  Teachers;*  Advantage  of  Differen- 
tiation. 

6.  Degree  of  Differentiation  required;  Middle  and  Upper  Grades  still  153 
form  a  Single  Field;  Mental  and  Physical  Considerations  warrant 
Differentiation;  Objections  to  Differentiation;  Choice  of  Service  Dif- 
ficult; Knowledge  too  Specialized;  Difficulty  of  Adjusting  Supply 
and  Demand;  Character  and  Extent  of  Legitimate  Differentiation 
of  Training;  Specialized  Preparation  for  Administration;  Specialized 
Preparation  for  Rural  School  Teachers 

B.  ORGANIZATION   OF  CUEEICULA  IN  THE  STATE  NOBMAL  SCHOOLS  AND  CITY 

TEAINING  SCHOOLS  OF  MISSOURI  l6l 

1,  Curricula  as  Wholes 

a.  General  Characteristics  of  the  Normal  School  Curricula;  Personal 
Welfare  of  the  Student  placed  above  Needs  of  the  Service; " Ladder 


vi  CONTENTS 

of  Promotion"  in  Missouri  Normal  Schools;  Effect  upon  the  Schools 
Unfortunate 

6.  Secondary  Curriculum  Leading  to  the  Rural  Certificate;  Contradic-      164 
tory  Aims;  Secondary  Professional  Curricula  should  be  Abolished 

c.  Collegiate  Curricula  of  the  Normal  Schools;  Not  True  Curricula;      166 
Existing  "Curricula*'  not  Professional 

d.  Curricula  of  the  City  Training  Schools;  The  Harris  Teachers  College      169 
Curriculum  for  Elementary  Teachers;  Contrast  between  State  Nor- 
mal Schools  and  City  Training  Schools;  Normal  Schools  have  be- 
littled Elementary  Instruction;  The  City  Training  Schools  miss  their 

Full  Opportunity 

2.  Organization  and  Content  of  Specific  Courses  17 '2 

a.  Professional  Courses  of  Secondary  Grade  1 73 

(1)  Subject-matter  of  the  Common  School  Branches  with  Emphasis 
upon  Method;  Concentration  and  Uniform  Treatment  needed 

(2)  The  Psychology  of  Learning 
(8)  Rural  Life  Problems 

(4)  Rural  School  Management 

(5)  Methods  and  Observation ;  Successful  Procedure  in  Minnesota 

J.  Professional  Courses  of  Collegiate  Grade;  Inter-school  Variations          177 

(1)  Psychology;  Introductory  Course;  Advanced  Courses  in  Psychol-      178 
ogy; Teaching  Less  an  Applied  Science  than  a  Fine  Art;  Psychol- 
ogy Necessary  to  a  Sound  View  of  Education ;  Twofold  Require- 
ment from  Psychology;  Proposed  Organization  of  Courses  in 
Psychology 

(2)  History  of  Education;  Courses  offered  in  Missouri  Schools ;  Func-      1 84 
tion  of  History  of  Education  in  the  Professional  Preparation  of 
Teachers ;  Suggested  Rearrangement  of  History  of  Education 

(3)  General  Method  and  Principles  of  Teaching;  Present  Status  of     187 
"General  Method;"  Most  Advantageous  Position  of  the  Course 

(4)  School  Management,  Class  Management,  and  School  Economy;      190 
Relation  to  Other  Subjects 

(5)  Observation,  Participation,  and  Practice  Teaching  IQ9, 
(a)  Size  of  the  Training  School  as  related  to  Normal  School  En- 
rolment; Control  of  Local  School  Facilities  Indispensable; 
Minimal  Standards  of  Practice  Facilities 

(&)  Housing  and  Equipment  of  Training  Departments ;  Bad  Con-      1 97 
ditions  easily  Remedied 

(c)  Relation  between  the  Training  School  and  Other  Normal      199 
School  Departments;  Lack  of  Cooperation  in  Missouri  Schools ; 
Difficulties  of  Cooperation ;  Organized  Cooperation 

(d)  The  Apprentice  System  as  related  to  the  Unification  of     202 
Courses;  Defects  and  Advantages  of  the  System  at  St.  Louis; 
Suggested  Improvements 

(e)  Spirit  and  Morale  of  the  Practice  Schools;  Reasons  for  Low     205 
Morale;  Laissez-faire  Policy  a  Mistake;  Training  School  Tests 
show  Low  Standards 


CONTENTS  vii 

(/)  Courses  in  Observation  as  Prerequisite  to  Practice  Teaching;     211 
Lessons  for  Demonstration  at  St.  Louis;  Courses  in  Obser- 
vation at  the  Springfield  Normal  School;  Demonstration 
Teaching  at  Warrensburg 
(g)   Supervision  of  Practice  Teaching 

(i)  The  Supervisory  Staff;  Ratio  of  Supervisors  to  Student- 
teachers;  Status  and  Equipment  of  Supervisors  and 
Critic  Teachers 

(ii)  Methods  of  Supervision;  Lesson  Plans;  Inspection  of 
Class  Work;  Conferences;  Testing  Results;  Program  of 
Studies;  Should  the  Practice  School  experiment  with  the 
Curriculum? 

(K)   Concentrated  versus  Distributed  Practice  Teaching 
(*)    Most  Favorable  Position  of  Practice  Teaching  in  the  Curric- 
ulum 

c.  Collegiate  Courses  in  Specific  Methods  of  Teaching;  Good  Special      225 
Method  a  Function  of  Subject-matter  Courses;  "Curriculum"  Courses 

d.  Courses  in  Academic  Subjects  228 

(1)  English  and  Public  Speaking;  Amount  and  Variety  Excessive 
for  Sound  Curricula;  Professional  Character  Negligible;  How 
should  Content  Courses  be  Professionalized? 

(2)  Ancient  Languages  232 

(3)  Modern  Foreign  Languages 

(4)  History  and  Government 

(5)  Mathematics  236 

(6)  Physics  and  Chemistry  238 

(7)  Botany,  Zoology,  Physiology,  Hygiene,  and  Sanitation  239 

(8)  Geography  and  Geology  240 

(9)  Agriculture  240 

(10)  Fine  Arts  242 

(11)  Commercial  Subj  ects  243 

(12)  Manual  or  Industrial  Arts  245 

(13)  Home  Economics  245 

(14)  Library  Economy  246 

(15)  Physical  Training  247 

C,  THE  O.UALITY  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOL  TEACHING  AS  AN  ELEMENT  IN  THE  CUR- 

RICULUM 247 

The  Normal  School  Instructor  primarily  a  Teacher;  Characteristics  of 
Normal  School  Teaching;  Teaching  should  be  Exemplary;  The  Elements 
of  Good  Teaching;  Utilizing  Good  Models;  Stimulating  Good  Teaching; 
Some  Form  of  Educational  Criticism  Desirable;  An  ce Educational  Ad- 
viser;'* Other  Solutions 

D.  SELECTION  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  CURRICULA  258 

1.  The  Present  Situation.  Relative  Use  made  of  Collegiate  Instructors; 
Causes  of  Waste:  Duplication  of  Classes;  An  Extravagant  Elective  Sys- 
tem ;  Lack  of  Intercollegiate  Differentiation ;  Concentration  of  Advanced 


viii  CONTENTS 

Curricula  in  Latin;  Concentration  of  All  High  School  Curricula;  Ad- 
vantages of  Differentiation;  Effect  of  the  Present  Policies  upon  the 
Basic  Work  of  the  Institutions 

2.  Number  and  Kind  of  Curricula  needed  in  Missouri.  Teachers  in  Rural      265 
Schools;  Teachers  in  Graded  Elementary  Schools;  Teachers  in  High 
Schools;  How  shall  this  Need  be  Met? 

VIII.  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

A.  PRESIDENT  AND  STAFF  $72 

1.  The  President.  Modern  Conception  of  a  President's  Duties;  Function      273 
of  the  President  in  the  Missouri  Normal  Schools ;  Effects  of  the  Presi- 
dent's Prerogative  on  the  School;  Personal  Prerogative  should  be 
Limited 

2.  The  Staff.  Large  Departmental  Initiative;  Effects  of  the  Elective  Sys- 
tern  on  the  Teacher;  Present  Tenure  of  Position  Unjust;  Leaves  of 
Absence  for  Study  or  Experience ;  Administrative  Use  of  Professional 
Training;  Departmental  Distribution  of  Training;  Departmental  Dis- 
tribution of  Salaries;  Secondary  versus  Collegiate  Instructors;  Part- 
time  and  Student  Assistants;  Instructors  in  the  Summer  Session;  Train- 
ing of  Summer  Instructors;  Hours  and  Salaries  of  Summer  Instruc- 
tors ;  Contrasting  Policies  of  Summer  Session  Administration 

B.  THE  STUDENT  BODY :  SIGNIFICANT  FEATURES  IN  SELECTION,  ORGANISATION, 

AND  ADMINISTRATIVE  TREATMENT 

1.  Men  as  Normal  School  Students.  Motives  in  Male  Attendance;  Reaction 
of  Male  Attendance  on  the  Institution 

2.  Problem  of  the  Secondary  Student.  Characteristics  of  the  Extreme  Age      295 
Groups;  Geographical  Distribution;  Previous  Schooling;  Opportuni- 
ties for  High  School  Attendance;  Teaching  Experience;  Quality  of 

the  Older  Secondary  Student;  Treatment  of  the  Young  Secondary 
Student;  Special  Needs  of  the  Older  Secondary  Student;  A  State  Higli 
School 

3.  Organisation  of  Attendance.  The  Problem  of  Normal  School  Attend-      SOI 
ance;  Educational  Effects  of  the  Present  System;  Changes  in  Student 
Body  from  Term  to  Term;  Sequence  of  Years;  Need  of  Central  Ad- 
ministration and  Favorable  Legislation;  Opportunity  of  the  Schools 

for  Independent  Action 

4.  Admission  and  Classification  307 

a.  Requirements  for  Admission;  Regulations  of  Local  Boards;  Exami- 
nation versus  " Proving  up;"  Reorganization  of  the  Secondary  Pro- 
gram; "Proving  up"  Policy  established;  Uniform  Administration  of 
Admission  Requirements  Needed;  What  should  be  the  Method  of 
Admission? 

b.  Classification  of  Students;  Procedure  at  Kirksville;  Composition  of     SIS 
Classes  thus  formed;  Fixed  Curricula  the  Only  Solution 

5.  Student  Programs.  Speed  the  Student's  Central  Consideration;  Much      317 
Pressure  for  Excessive  Programs ;  Present  Practice:  Collegiate  Pro- 
grams; Secondary  Programs;  Time  Required  for  Preparation;  Is  the 
Standard  of  Credit  in  the  Normal  Schools  too  Low? 


CONTENTS  ix 

6.  Student  Rating:  Examinations.  Selective  Function  of  Ratings;  The  Prac-      321 
tice  in  Missouri;  Comparison  with  Harris  Teachers  College;  Seasonal 
Changes  in  Student  Failure ;  Relation  of  Examinations  to  Elimination ; 
Why  the  Normal  Schools  are  Non-Selective;  Lack  of  Thorough  Exam- 
inations a  Source  of  Weakness 

7.  Administration  of  Credit  Administration  of  Credit  at  Kirksville — The      328 
Theory;  The  Practice;  Credit  for  Admission ;  Secondary  Credit;  Colle- 
giate Credit ;  Time  Required  for  Graduation ;  Administration  of  Credit 

at  Warrensburg;  Administration  of  Credit  at  Cape  Girardeau;  Admin- 
istration of  Credit  at  Springfield ;  Administration  of  Credit  at  Maryville ; 
Essentials  of  Credit  Administration 

8.  Graduation,  Certification)  and  Appointment  344 

a.  Graduation 

b.  Certification  of  Graduates ;  Present  Form  of  Certification  Inadequate ;      345 
Certification  should  be  Specific;  Certificates  should  Issue  from  One 
Source;  The  Institutions'  Share  in  Certification;  Need  of  a  Unified 
Administration 

c.  Appointment   of  Graduates;   Present  Method   of  Recommending     349 
Teachers;  Demand  for  Teachers  not  yet  Specialized;  Improvements 
Needed  in  System  of  Appointments;  Normal  School  Responsible  for 
Teachers  in  Service 

9.  The  Quality  of  Normal  School  Administration  as  an  Element  in  the  Normal      353 

School  Cumculum 
10,  Recent  Changes  in  the  Institutions  354 

IX.  PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  357 

A.  NORMAL  SCHOOL  GRADUATES  OF  1915  357 

Relation  of  Salaries  to  Training;  Normal  School  Students  at  the  University 

B.  NORMAL  SCHOOL  STUDENTS  AMONG  THE  TEACHING  POPULATION  36l 

1.  Teachers  in  Rural  Schools 

2.  Teachers  and  Supervisors  in  Graded  Elementary  Schools  364 
a.  The  State  at  Large;  Conditions  of  Training;  Conditions  of  Reward 

6.  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  368 

3.  Teachers  and  Supervisors  in  High  Schools  372 

a.  The  State  at  Large 

b.  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  375 

4.  City  and  Town  Superintendents  .                                                          376 

5.  County  Superintendents  379 

C.  WHAT  HAVE  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  DONE  FOR  THE  STATE?  380 

Normal  Schools  most  Effective  in  Small  Communities;  Normal  School  In- 
fluence Widespread  but  Vague ;  Good  Teachers  Impossible  at  the  Present 
Economic  Level 

X-  LINCOLN  INSTITUTE  385 

XL  SUMMARY  OF  PROPOSALS  FOR  THE  PREPARATION  OF  MISSOURI  TEACHERS  IN 

NORMAL  SCHOOLS  387 

Purpose  of  the  Proposals 


CONTENTS 

A.  CONCLUSIONS  AND   PROPOSALS  EELATING  TO  EXTERNAL   ORGANIZATION  AND 

CONTROL  388 

1.  Constitutional  Modifications 

%.  Legislative  Provisions 

3.  Administrative  Policies  of  the  Board  $90 

B.  CONCLUSIONS  AND  PROPOSALS  RELATING  TO  INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  AND 

PROCEDURE  391 

1.  Purpose  and  Scope  of  Normal  School  Effort 

2.  The  Curricula 

a.  Outstanding  Problems  of  Curriculum  Construction 

b.  Organization  of  Secondary  Curricula 

c.  Organization  of  Collegiate  Curricula 

d.  Quality  of  Normal  School  Instruction  as  a  Factor  in  the  Curriculum. 

e.  Selection  and  Distribution  of  Curricula 

3.  Staff  of  Instruction  395 

a.  The  Presidents 

b.  The  Teachers 

4.  The  Student  Body  39® 


APPENDIX 

§  I.  COLLECTION  AND  TREATMENT  OF  DATA 

A.  The  Normal  Schools  401 

B.  The  Teaching  Population  405 

§  II.  CURRICULA 

TABLE  1.  Collegiate  Courses  offered  in  Missouri  State  Normal  Schools,  1917-18  406 

TABLE  2.  Collegiate  Offerings  in  various  Normal  School  Departments;  1937-1  8  41  1 
TABLE  3.  Individual  Curricula  illustrative  of  the  Operation  of  the  Elective  System 

in  Missouri  Normal  Schools  (10  cases)  41  1 
TABLE  4.  City  Training  School  Curricula 

A.  The  Harris  Teachers  College  Curriculum  for  Kindergartners  417 

B.  The  Kansas  City  Teacher-training  Curriculum  418 

§111.  DATES  OF  THE  FIRST  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  418 

§  IV.  NORMAL  SCHOOL  TEACHERS 

TABLE  5.  Age  and  Sex  Distribution  419 

TABLE  6.  Occupation  of  Father  41  9 

TABLE  7.  Number  of  Other  Teachers  in  the  Family  419 

TABLE  8.  A.  Degrees  and  Class  of  Institution  from  which  they  were  received  4SO 
B.  Degrees  held  by  Teachers  at  the  Normal  Schools,,  at  the  Soldan  High 


School  in  St.  Louis,  and  at  the  State  University 
TABLE  9.  Degrees  held  by  Teachers  in  Various  Normal  School  Departments  421 

TABLE  10.  Sources  of  Degrees 


CONTENTS  xi 

TABLE  11.  Combinations  of  Training  '  422 

TABLE  12.  Total  Teaching  Experience  422 

TABLE  IS.  Combinations  of  Teaching  Experience  423 

TABLE  14.  Varieties  of  Teaching  Experience  423 

TABLE  15.  Distribution  of  Annual  Salaries,,  1915-16  423 

TABLE  16.  Departmental  Salaries,  1915-16  424 

TABLE  17.  Length  of  Weekly  Programs,  1915-16  425 
TABLE  18.  Salaries  of  Normal  School  Teachers  according  to  their  Grade  of  Work, 

1915-16  425 
TAB!E  1 9-  Extent  of  Secondary  Work  reported  by  the  forty-one  best  trained  Nor- 
mal School  Teachers,  1915-16  425 
TABLE  20.  Training  of  eighty-one  Teachers  who  taught  only  in  the  Summer  Ses- 
sion, 1916  426 
TABLE  21.  Salary  and  Hours  of  ninety-three  Summer  Instructors,  191 6  427 

§  V.  NORMAL  SCHOOL  STUDENTS 

TABLE  22.  A.  Classification  of  the  Total  Enrolment,  1913-14  428 
J3.  "Standard"  Enrolment,  1913-14  428 
TABLE  23.  Proportion  of  Men  in  Various  Normal  School  Classifications,  1913-14  428 
TABLE  24.  Changes  in  the  Proportion  of  Men  Students  since  1871  428 
TABLE  25.  Proportion  of  Secondary  Enrolment,  1913-14  429 
TABLE  26.  Age  Distribution  of  Total  Enrolment,  1913-14  429 
TABLE  27.  Nationality  of  Parents  429 
TABLE  28.  Father's  Occupation  430 
TABLE  29.  Father's  Income  431 
TABLE  30.  "  Is  teaching  the  best  paid  employment  you  could  conveniently  under- 
take?" 431 
TABLE  31.  "Are  you  self-dependent  in  paying  for  your  education?"  431 
TABLE  32.  Size  of  Family  431 
TABLE  33.  Other  Teachers  in  the  Family  432 
TABLE  34.  "How  many  of  your  family  ever  attended  a  normal  school?'  432 
TABLE  35.  High  School  Attendance  432 
TABLE  36.  Ratings  of  871  High  School  Graduates 

A.  Ratings  of  Ability  distributed  among  Occupations  432 

B.  Ratings  of  Ability  distributed  within  Occupational  Groups  433 
TABLE  37.  Comparison  of  Collegiate  Ratings  at  Normal  Schools  of  Students  pre- 
pared at  High  Schools  with  Ratings  of  Students  prepared  at  the  Normal  Schools  433 

TABLE  38.  Proportion  of  Students  reporting  Teaching  Experience  433 

TABLE  39.  Distribution  of  Teaching  Experience  433 

TABLE  40.  "  Do  you  plan  to  teach  permanently?"  434 
TABLE  41.  Kind  of  Teaching  sought  by  those  intending  to  Teach  immediately 

upon  leaving  the  Normal  School  434 

TABLE  42,  Programs  Scheduled  by  All  Collegiate  Students  in  191S-14  434 

TABLE  43.  Programs  Scheduled  by  All  Secondary  Students  in  1913-14  435 

TABLE  44.  Distribution  of  Student  Grades,  1913-14  435 


xii  CONTENTS 

TABLE  45.  Seasonal  Variation  in  Collegiate  Student  Failure,  1913-14  435 

TABLE  46.  Size  of  Normal  School  Classes,  1915-16  436 

TABLE  47.  Proportions  of  Large  and  Small  Classes  in  Various  Departments,  1915— 

16  436 

TABLE  48.  Number  of  Four-year  Bachelor's  Degrees  from  Missouri  State  Normal 

Schools  •  437 

TABLE  49-  Subsequent  Employment  of  Recipients  of  Normal  School  Certificates 

in  1915  437 

TABLE  50.  Distribution  of  Recipients  of  Diplomas  or  Certificates  in  1915  by  Classes 

among  their  Various  Subsequent  Occupations  ,     438 

§  VI.  TEACHING  POPULATION 

TABLE  51.  Teachers  in  Graded  Elementary  Schools,  1915.  Duration  of  Normal 
School  Attendance  438 

TABLE  52.  Teachers  in  Graded  Elementary  Schools,  1915.  Proportion  of  Terms 
spent  at  each  Normal  School  in  Collegiate  Work  438 

TABLE  53.  Teachers  in  Graded  Elementary  Schools,  1915.  Distribution  of  Terms 
of  Collegiate  Normal  School  Attendance  438 

TABLE  54.  Teachers  in  Graded  Elementary  Schools,  1915.  Number  reporting  Col- 
legiate Work  at  Normal  Schools  with  average  number  of  Terms  of  Attendance  439 

TABLE  55.  Teachers  in  Graced  Elementary  Schools,  1915.  High  School  Prepara- 
tion of  1556  Teachers  who  had  attended  State  Normal  Schools  439 

TABLE  56.  High  School  Teachers,  1915  (except  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City).  Dis- 
tribution of  Collegiate  Training  439 

TABLE  57.  High  School  Teachers,  1915  (except  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City).  Dis- 
tribution of  Normal  School  Training  439 

TABLE  58.  Subjects  taught  by  Missouri  High  School  Teachers  and  Supervisors, 

1916-17  440 

§  VII.  BIENNIAL  STATE  EXPENDITURES  FOE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS,  1871-1918  441 

§  VIIL  THE  JUDGMENT  OF  EXPERIENCED  TEACHERS  AS  TO  THE  VALUE  OF  VARIOUS 

ELEMENTS  IN  THEIR  TRAINING  442 

§  IX.  THE  RESULTS  OF  STANDARD  TESTS  IN  THE  ELEMENTARY  TRAINING  DEPART- 
MENTS OF  MISSOURI  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  AND  IN  THE  EXPERIMENTAL 

SCHOOL  AT  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY  445 

TABLE  59.  Number  of  Pupils  by  Schools  and  Grades  445 

TABLE  60.  Median  Ages  of  Pupils  by  Grades  445 

TABLE  6l.  Number  and  Per  Cent  of  Pupils  Two  or  more  Years  Retarded  445 

TABLE  62.  Number  and  Per  Cent  of  Pupils  Two  or  more  Years  Accelerated  446 

TABLE  63.  Speed  of  Addition  446 

TABLE  64.  Accuracy  of  Addition  447 

TABLE  65.  Speed  of  Subtraction  447 

TABLE  66.  Accuracy  of  Subtraction  447 

TABLE  67.  Speed  of  Multiplication  448 

TABLE  68.  Accuracy  of  Multiplication  448 


CONTENTS  xiii 

TABLE  69.  Speed  of  Division  448 

TABLE  70.  Accuracy  of  Division  448 
TABLE  71.  Comparison  of  Ranks  in  Courtis  Tests                                                    ,     449 

TABLE  72.  Median  Scores  in  Stone  Reasoning  Test  449 

TABLE  73.  Spelling  of  Words  from  the  Ayres  List  449 

TABLE  74.  Spelling  of  Words  from  the  Boston  List  450 

TABLE  75.  Speed  of  Handwriting  450 

TABLE  76.  Quality  of  Handwriting  451 

TABLE  77.  Kansas  Silent  Reading  Tests'  451 

TABLE  78.  Speed  of  Silent  Reading  452 

TABLE  79.  Reproduction  of  Passage  Read  452 

TABLE  80.  Answers  to  Questions  on  Passage  Read  452 

TABLE  81.  Compositions  453 

TABLE  82.  Summary  of  Ranks  given  Each  School  453 
TABLE  83.  Progress  of  Training  Schools  from  Grade  to  Grade  in  certain  selected 

Abilities  455 

TABLE  84.  Joint  Performance  of  Training  Schools  in  Courtis  Tests  455 

TABLE  85.  Correlations  b6tween  certain  Abilities  measured  in  the  Tests  456 

INDEX  457 


PREFACE 

THIS  Study  of  the  Preparation  of  Teachers  for  the  Public  Schools  originated  in 
an  official  request  made  to  the  Carnegie  Foundation  by  the  Governor  of  Mis- 
souri in  July,  1914.  Governor  Major  defined  the  problem  of  the  state  with  respect 
to  its  teachers  in  the  following  words : 

"One  of  the  chief  problems  confronting  this  and  other  states  is  a  wholesome  sup- 
ply of  adequately- trained  and  prepared  teachers.  In  this  matter  Missouri  has  made 
great  progress  during  the  last  eighteen  months.  We  have  a  great  university  and  five 
splendid  normal  schools,  and  teachers'  training  courses  in  about  75  high  schools.  The 
question,  however,  is  ever  open  as  to  what  is  the  best  preparation  and  what  is  the 
duty  of  the  State  in  meeting  it,  and  how  can  the  State  secure  the  greatest  benefit  at 
a  minimum  expense." 

The  enquiry  undertaken  by  the  Carnegie  Foundation  with  the  cooperation  of  many 
students  of  education  began  with  an  examination  of  the  agencies  for  the  training  of 
teachers  in  the  State  of  Missouri  as  thus  enumerated.  A  study  of  these  agencies,  how- 
ever, inevitably  disclosed  a  more  far-reaching  problem,  and  led  to  an  attempt  to  eval- 
uate the  process  itself  whereby  teachers  are  prepared,  and  to  an  effort  to  formulate 
trustworthy  principles  of  procedure.  This  development  of  the  scope  of  the  enquiry  has 
modified  the  undertaking  in  certain  important  particulars:  first,  attention  has  been 
concentrated  on  the  normal  schools,  inasmuch  as  they  represent  the  professional  prob- 
lem of  teacher-training  in  its  simplest  form ;  second,  instead  of  a  report  addressed  only 
to  legislators  and  to  lay  readers  generally,  the  study  has  come  to  include  a  somewhat 
technical  discussion  of  the  fundamental  considerations  that  enter  into  the  organiza- 
tion and  conduct  of  the  courses  of  study  intended  for  teacher-training ;  and  third,  in- 
stead of  a  short  bulletin,  there  has  necessarily  resulted  a  volume  sufficiently  large  to 
admit  of  the  treatment  of  these  professional  topics.  Throughout  the  report  there  is 
woven  a  discussion  of  the  statutory  and  administrative  conditions  in  the  Missouri  in- 
stitutions for  the  training  of  teachers;  and  the  general  treatment  has  been  greatly 
illuminated  by  an  intensive  study  of  the  elements  of  the  Missouri  teaching  popula- 
tion with  which  the  problem  of  teacher-training  is  most  concerned. 

While  the  present  report,  therefore,  is  confined  to  a  discussion  of  the  normal  school 
and  its  function,  its  curriculum,  and  its  capabilities  for  the  preparation  of  teachers 
for  the  different  grades  of  schools,  it  will  necessarily  be  supplemented  by  a  second 
report,  dealing  with  an  examination  of  teacher  preparation  in  colleges  and  universi- 
ties. This  could  scarcely  be  based  upon  the  study  of  a  single  institution  in  one  state. 

In  the  Introduction  to  the  report,  not  only  is  the  evolution  of  the  study  made 
clear,  but  also  detailed  reference  is  made  to  the  teachers  and  writers  on  education  who 
have  participated  in  its  preparation.  This  includes  many  representatives  of  normal 
schools,  colleges,  and  universities,  men.  whose  opinions  have  been  formed  upon  actual 
experience  as  well  as  upon  long  study  of  the  problem.  The  result  which  is  here  laid 


xvi  PREFACE 

before  students  of  education  is,  therefore,  the  outcome  of  the  coordinated  effort  of  a 
considerable  body  of  skilled  professional  men. 

Outside  of  the  information  contained  in  the  Introduction,  certain  aspects  of  the 
report  may  be  mentioned  from  the  standpoint  of  the  Carnegie  Foundation  itself. 

The  various  bulletins  dealing  with  educational  subjects  that  have  been  issued  by 
the  Carnegie  Foundation  in  the  last  dozen  years  may  be  grouped  in  two  classes.  To 
the  first  class  belong  bulletins  of  a  professional  character  addressed  to  members  of 
the  profession  concerned.  Such  was  the  bulletin  printed  in  1910  on  Medical  Education 
in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  which  was  addressed  immediately  to  teachers  and 
practitioners  of  medicine.  In  the  second  group  of  bulletins  are  included  those  which 
are  aimed  to  state  in  simple  and  clear  form  educational  questions  and  results  generally 
known  to  professional  men,  but  whose  knowledge  is  not  widespread  outside  of  the 
profession  itself.  Such  a  bulletin  is  that  just  issued  entitled  "  Justice  and  the  Poor," 
which  seeks  to  convey  to  the  intelligent  layman  a  clear  statement  of  the  causes  thru 
which  a  denial  of  justice  to  the  poor  has  oftentimes  resulted  not  by  any  intention 
of  the  law,  but  because  the  administration  of  the  law  has  not  kept  up  with  its  intent. 

The  present  report  belongs  to  the  first  group  of  bulletins.  It  is  addressed  to  the 
men  and  women  who  are  working  in  a  distinct  professional  field,  namely,  that  of  teach- 
ing— a  much  larger  field  than  that  of  medicine.  No  teacher  in  the  elementary  or  sec- 
ondary or  normal  schools,  or  in  the  school  of  education  of  a  college  or  university,  can 
fail  to  be  interested  in  the  effort  to  do  what  has  been  attempted  in  this  report.  It 
represents  the  first  comprehensive  formulation  of  good  practice  in  the  largest  field 
of  professional  training  for  public  service  in  our  country,  and  it  is  believed  that  the 
work  has  been  done  with  such  care  that  the  results  here  set  forth  are  worthy  of  the 
thoughtful  study  of  every  earnest  and  intelligent  teacher. 

It  will  be  evident  to  the  reader  that  this  exceedingly  important  task  has  had  a 
most  sympathetic  handling  even  tho  the  treatment  has  necessarily  been  critical  in 
method.  In  spite  of  widely  differing  training  and  experience,  the  authors  have  been 
singularly  unanimous  in  their  conclusions.  Aside  from  the  inevitable  peculiarity  of 
their  individual  points  of  view,  their  examination  of  the  situation  has  been  as  com- 
pletely unbiased  and  disinterested  as  it  was  possible  to  make  it.  Their  commission 
from  the  Foundation  centred  in  a  true  statement  and  a  reasonable  interpretation  of 
the  facts,  however  familiar  or  however  novel  the  results ;  and  their  conclusions  indicate 
this.  For  example,  as  urged  in  the  earlier  reports  of  the  Foundation,  there  appears 
here  to  be  no  reason  why  tax-supported  normal  schools  should  not  give  themselves 
unreservedly  to  the  great  business  of  properly  preparing  teachers.  On  the  other  hand, 
bhe  contention  between  normal  school  and  college  as  to  which  shall  prepare  high  school 
teachers — a  dispute  that  previously  seemed  important — now  appears  superficial. 
The  Carnegie  Foundation  has  had  no  preconceived  theory  to  promulgate.  It  has,  in- 
leed,  never  committed  itself  to  any  pronouncement  concerning  normal  schools  beyond 
,he  mere  assumption  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  normal  school  to  train  teachers. 


PREFACE  xvii 

This  report  makes  clear  that  what  is  really  needed  is  not  arbitrary  distinctions  as 
between  normal  schools  and  colleges,,  but  an  enlightened  administration  of  the  state's 
entire  teacher- training  function  exercised  from  a  single  directing  body  equipped  to 
prepare  teachers  for  all  schools  as  thoroughly  as  possible.  No  man  or  woman  faces 
a  harder  task  than  that  which  confronts  the  untrained  teacher  who  essays  to  teach 
others  that  which  he  has  himself  never  learned.  Nothing  goes  so  far  to  reduce  a  pro- 
fession to  the  level  of  the  commonplace  as  the  lack  of  a  background  of  knowledge 
and  of  professional  spirit  in  its  members. 

To-day  in  the  elementary  schools  of  the  nation,  and  particularly  in  the  rural 
schools,  the  American  woman  is  carrying  the  heavy  load  of  public  school  teaching. 
In  every  state  of  the  Union  young  women  are  teaching  whose  formal  education  never 
went  beyond  one  year  of  high  school,  who  receive  little  assistance  or  encouragement 
from  the  school  authorities,  and  yet  who,  out  of  native  ability  and  enthusiasm,  thru 
hard  work  and  the  saving  grace  of  a  wholesome  sense  of  proportion,  become  true 
teachers.  Seldom  does  a  community  give  credit  to  the  brave  womanly  figure  that 
carries  on  its  slender  shoulders  so  heavy  a  responsibility.  But  it  is  idle  with  the  re- 
stricted preparation,  the  lack  of  sympathetic  counsel,  and  the  scant  pay  that  are  the 
characteristics  of  elementary  school  teaching  to-day,  to  expect  such  heroic  service  ex- 
cept in  a  limited  number  of  cases.  The  aim  of  each  state  should  be  to  work  toward 
a  situation  where  the  teacher  in  the  elementary  and  secondary  schools  shall  possess 
a  training  that  is  adequate  and  a  professional  recognition  that  will  attract  and  satisfy 
the  aspirations  and  the  economic  needs  of  able  men  and  women.  To  open  the  door  to 
a  finer  preparation  for  the  life  of  a  teacher  and  to  put  this  profession  on  a  plane  of 
the  highest  honor  and  dignity  is  fundamental  to  any  true  progress  in  education  for 
our  country. 

To  attain  this  is  only  in  part  a  matter  of  cost  and  of  the  teacher's  salary.  One  "cannot 
go  out  in  the  market  with  any  sum  of  money,  however  large,  and  buy  good  teaching. 
An  adequate  army  of  sincere,  able,  and  thoughtful  teachers  can  be  recruited  only 
from  a  people  who  discriminate  between  that  which  is  sincere  and  that  which  is  su- 
perficial and  insincere.  Education  in  a  democracy,  to  serve  its  real  purpose,  must  be 
an  education  of  the  whole  people.  The  school  reacts  on  the  body  politic  and  the  ideals 
of  the  democracy  react  on  the  school.  An  honest  and  thorough  system  of  public 
schools,  manned  by  able  and  well-trained  teachers,  can  only  arise  among  a  people 
who  themselves  believe  in  honesty  and  thoroughness. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  most  striking  weakness  of  American  political,  social, 
and  economic  thinking  lies  in  the  superficial  character  of  our  education.  In  our  pub- 
lic schools,  and  no  less  in  our  universities  and  colleges,  education  is  interpreted  only 
too  often  to  mean  a  smattering  of  knowledge  in  many  things;  seldom  is  it  construed 
in  terms  of  mastery  of  any  one  subject  or  as  the  ability  to  think  clearly.  Our  schools 
reflect  the  almost  universal  superficiality  of  our  people,  and  our  citizenship  is  edu- 
cated to  the  ideal  of  superficiality  in  our  schools.  Inhere  is  no  end  to  these  mutual 


xviii  PREFACE 

reactions  except  an  aroused  public  opinion  that  will  demand  sincere  teaching  and  a 
body  of  teachers  who  will  educate  the  children  of  the  nation  to  the  ideals  of  simpli- 
city, sincerity,  and  thoroughness.  An  honest  system  of  education  and  a  clear-thinking 
public  opinion  must  be  developed  together.  This  is  the  fundamental  problem  of  a 
democracy. 

Finally,  one  cannot  forget  that  since  this  report  was  undertaken  the  whole  prob- 
lem of  education  in  our  country,  as  in  all  countries,  has  received  a  new  emphasis, 
and  has  been  subjected  to  a  new  scrutiny.  The  letter  of  the  Governor  of  Missouri, 
out  of  which  this  study  arose,  was  dated  July  18, 1914.  Two  weeks  later  Europe  had 
entered  upon  the  great  war  which  was  later  to  involve  the  United  States  as  well. 
This  report  appears  after  the  actual  armed  conflict  has  ceased,  but  at  the  very  mo- 
ment when  our  country  is  face  to  face  with  the  necessity  of  evaluating  anew  its  system 
of  education.  Economic  no  less  than  social  conditions  are  upon  a  new  basis.  Within 
the  last  year  and  a  half  the  value  of  the  teacher's  salary — often  more  properly  called 
wages — has  been  cut  in  half  by  the  rise  in  the  cost  of  living.  Along  with  the  demand 
of  the  moment  for  an  improved  and  inspiring  system  of  public  schools,  we  are  con- 
fronted with  a  situation  in  which  the  best  teachers  are  rapidly  withdrawing  from  the 
profession.  The  country  faces  a  real  crisis  in  its  educational  development,  and  the 
passing  of  that  crisis  depends  mainly  on  the  possibility  of  training  and  bringing  into 
the  schools  teachers  fitted  for  their  high  task.  The  whole  problem  of  the  service  of  the 
schools  themselves  hangs  absolutely  upon  the  ability  to  dbtain  the  requisite  supply 
of  devoted,  able,  and  well-prepared  teachers. 

In  such  a  situation  there  is  need  for  preserving  a  true  perspective.  The  American 
people  do  not  intend  that  the  schools  shall  be  made  the  victims  of  any  sudden  dis- 
turbance. The  public,  when  it  understands  the  situation,  will  be  ready  to  pay  the  price 
for  good  teachers,  but  it  should  also  be  clearly  apprehended  that  a  mere  raise  of  pay 
of  the  future  public  school  teachers,  whether  in  the  rural  schools  or  in  the  city  schools, 
is  but  a  partial  solution  of  the  problem.  The  teacher  must  have  before  him  a  career 
that  will  attract  the  high-minded  and  ambitious  student.  He  must  be  able  to  earn 
in  that  career  a  living  salary  and  one  that  will  provide  for  his  comfort  and  for  his 
protection  in  old  age,  but  that  is  only  one  of  the  conditions  to  be  fulfilled.  Before 
all  else  we  must  have  in  our  minds  a  clear  knowledge  of  what  good  teaching  is,  of 
the  methods  by  which  teachers  may  be  fitted  for  their  calling,  and  under  what  super- 
vision and  organization  the  schools  shall  be  conducted  in  order  that  the  intellectual, 
social,  and  spiiitual  aspirations  of  teachers  may  be  realized  for  the  common  good. 

Above  and  beyond  all  considerations  of  salary,  it  is  necessary  to  have  among  teach- 
ers the  spirit  which  rises  out  of  professional  training —  adequate,  scholarly,  devoted 

and  which  will  make  all  who  breathe  its  atmosphere  proud  to  belong  to  a  profession 
where  such  qualifications  are  widespread  and  recognized  features.  Without  such  a  con- 
dition, no  mere  horizontal  raise  of  salary  will  transform  our  schools  into  places  of  true 
instruction  for  children  and  for  youth. 


PREFACE  xix 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  report  to  point  the  way  not  only  to  better  financial  rec- 
ognition of  the  teacher's  service  and  to  make  clear  to  the  public  its  duties  in  this 
respect,  but  still  more  to  emphasize  the  need  for  that  professional  conception  of 
ability,  of  knowledge,  and  of  preparation  which  must  characterize  the  teachers'  equip- 
ment before  the  schools  can  become  the  effective  agency  in  civilization  which  they 
aim  to  be. 

HENRY  S.  PEITCHETT. 


January,  1920. 


THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS 
FOR  AMERICAN  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


INTRODUCTION 

A,  CHARACTER  AND  CIRCUMSTANCES  OF  THE  ENQ.UIRY 

THE  present  Bulletin,  the  fourteenth  in  the  Foundation's  series  of  educational  pub- 
lications, contains  the  first  section  of  a  study  begun  more  than  five  years  ago.  In 
July,  1914,  the  Carnegie  Foundation  received  from  the  Governor  of  the  State  of 
Missouri,  Elliott  W.  Major,  an  invitation  to  consider  the  problem  of  the  "supply 
of  adequately  trained  and  prepared  teachers"  in  that  state,  with  reference  especially 
to  the  question,  "What  is  the  best  preparation  and  what  is  the  duty  of  the  state  in 
meeting  it,  and  how  can  the  state  secure  the  greatest  benefit  at  a  minimum  expense  ?" 

The  proposal  for  an  examination  into  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  American 
public  schools  had  received  serious  consideration  at  various  times  since  the  educa- 
tional studies  of  the  Foundation  were  first  undertaken.  The  problem  was  found  to 
differ  materially  from  that  of  legal  or  medical  education,  in  that  the  preparation  of 
teachers  involves  much  larger  numbers,  is  much  more  local  in  character,  and  depends 
more  directly  on  state  authority  for  its  management.  The  conclusion  had  at  length 
been  reached  that  the  only  satisfactory  treatment  of  the  problem  at  present  would  be 
one  that  approached  it  as  primarily  a  state  enterprise. 

The  invitation  from  Missouri  was  therefore  accepted  by  the  Foundation,  and  the 
enquiry  was  formally  inaugurated  at  a  conference  held  at  Jefferson  City,  Missouri,  on 
November  28,  1914.  Here,  at  the  Governor's  request,  the  President  of  the  Founda- 
tion met  about  one  hundred  of  the  leading  workers  in  the  schools,  normal  schools, 
and  colleges  of  the  state,  and  discussed  with  them  the  proposed  study,  receiving,  at 
the  close  of  the  conference,  their  unanimous  endorsement  and  pledge  of  cooperation 
in  the  undertaking. 

The  enquiry  was  projected  in  two  main  divisions.  The  first  was  to  consist  of  a 
careful  examination  of  all  the  various  institutions  in  the  state  engaged  in  preparing 
teachers  for  the  public  schools.  The  report  which  follows  embodies  a  part  of  the 
results  of  this  phase  of  the  work  as  explained  more  fully  below.  The  second  division 
contemplated  a  census  of  the  teachers  of  the  state.  It  was  proposed  to  make  this  as 
nearly  complete  as  possible  in  order  to  determine  the  actual  characteristics  of  the 
teaching  population  with  reference  to  its  training,  and  to  secure  data  from  which 
effectively  to  analyze  the  problem  of  teacher  supply.  The  response  to  this  endeavor 
was  highly  satisfactory;  and  data  were  secured  from  more  than  four-fifths  of  the 
twenty  thousand  teachers  in  the  public  schools.  The  results  have  been  studied  with 
care,  and  will  be  published  in  detail  in  a  separate  bulletin  having  as  its  central  topic 
the  relations  between  a  state,  as  represented  in  its  official  department  of  education, 
and  the  entire  body  of  teachers  in  its  service. 

It  was  at  first  expected  that  the  institutional  study  could  be  presented  as  a  whole 
in  a  single  volume,  but  it  soon  became  evident  that  a  sectional  treatment  wottld  be 


4      THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS 

necessary  if  justice  were  to  be  done  even  to  a  few  selected  aspects  of  the  subject. 
Thus  the  first  question  suggested  in  the  Governor's  invitation,  "What  is  the  best 
preparation  ?"  immediately  assumed  formidable  dimensions,  and  an  attempt  was  made 
quite  independent  of  the  Missouri  study  to  formulate  a  theory  of  the  preparation 
of  teachers,  together  with  concrete  applications  in  terms  of  specific  curricula,,  that 
would  be  acceptable  to  the  leading  students  in  that  field  all  over  the  country.  This 
set  of  theses  and  provisional  curricula  was  issued  early  in  1917,  and  elicited  an  ex- 
traordinary amount  of  valuable  comment  and  criticism  from  representative  sources 
— material  which  is  now  being  worked  over  for  a  revised  edition  of  these  proposals. 

In  like  manner  a  consideration  of  the  problems  found  to  be  uppermost  in  the 
normal  schools  on  the  one  hand  and  in  the  universities  and  colleges  on  the  other, 
suggested  that  separate  treatment  was  advisable,  altho  fundamentally  the  two  sets 
of  institutions  have  much  in  common  and,  judging  by  present  indications,  are  rap- 
idly approaching  an  identical  conception  of  their  task  in  so  far  as  the  preparation 
of  teachers  is  concerned.  Consequently  the  efforts  of  the  college  and  university  to 
provide  professional  training  in  education  have  been  postponed  for  later  considera- 
tion, and  the  present  discussion  is  concerned  solely  with  the  state  and  city  normal 
schools;  except  as  the  questions  of  government  and  control,  curriculum  organization, 
and  some-others,  necessarily  involve  all  state  institutions  engaged  in  this  work. 

Even  with  this  restriction  it  was  found  to  be  impossible  to  include  within  reason- 
able limits  an  examination  of  all  features,  or  even  of  all  important  features,  of  normal 
school  activity.  To  many  it  will  appear  difficult  to  justify  the  omission  of  any  refer- 
ence to  housing  or  material  equipment.  Still  more  would  probably  regard  a  study  of 
normal  school  financing,  here  omitted,  as  of  greater  importance  than  many  topics 
that  have  been  discussed,  while  much  might  have  been  said  concerning  extra-mural 
activities  such  as  correspondence  study,  extension  lectures,  and  other  field  service  for 
which  no  place  has  been  found. 

Whether  well  or  ill  advised,  the  determining  policy  in  the  selection  of  topics  has 
been  to  consider  those  phases  of  a  school's  life  that  bear  most  directly  upon  its  edu- 
cational procedure  and  success.  An  institution's  per  capita  costs  may  have  no  con- 
sistent relation  to  its  real  performance,  and  a  luxurious  plant  may  house  an  unsat- 
isfactory educational  philosophy.  Granted,  however,  a  sound  purpose  and  a  know- 
ledge of  tested  and  successful  procedure,  an  institution  or  a  state  may  usually  be 
trusted  not  to  attempt  more  than  its  funds  will  permit  it  to  do  well.  For  this  reason 
it  is  primarily  the  educational  significance  of  a  given  scheme  of  organization  and  of  its 
administrative  working-out  that  should  be  subjected  to  careful  and  periodical  review. 

It  was  believed,  moreover,  that  such  a  treatment  would  not  only  prove  most  help- 
ful to  Missouri,  but  would  be  of  the  greatest  service  elsewhere  as  well.  The  purposes 
for  which  teachers  should  be  especially  trained  are  virtually  the  same  throughout  the 
country,  and  it  is  greatly  in  the  interests  of  our  national  solidarity  to  make  this 
identity  complete  and  emphatic.  By  virtue  of  this  common  purpose  institutional 


INTRODUCTION  5 

experience  everywhere  may  be  utilized  in  gradually  building  up  legitimate  stand- 
ards of  practice  whereby  any  single  institution  may  measure  itself  or  be  measured 
by  others.  It  is  to  such  common  elements  in  the  educational  problems  presented  that 
this  study  has  addressed  itself.  There  are  few  of  the  situations  here  presented  as 
occurring  in  Missouri  that  have  not  appeared  in  quite  as  acute  form  in  many  other, 
perhaps  most,  American  states,  and  it  is  hoped  that  this  more  than  local  application 
may  considerably  enhance  whatever  merit  the  bulletin  may  possess. 


B.  METHOD  AND  PERSONNEL 

The  study  was  organized  and  conducted  by  Dr.  William  S.  Learned,  of  the  Foun- 
dation staff.  Dr.  I.  L.  Kandel  reviewed  the  report  and  contributed  the  account  of  the 
rise  of  normal  schools  outside  of  Missouri.  At  every  stage  of  the  enquiry  the  expe- 
rience in  such  studies  of  the  President  of  the  Foundation,  Dr.  Henry  S.  Pritchett, 
and  of  the  Secretary,  Dr.  Clyde  Furst,  has  been  freely  drawn  upon. 

Dr.  William  C.  Bagley,  Director  of  the  School  of  Education  at  the  University  of 
Illinois  when  the  study  was  begun,  and  now  Professor  of  Education  at  Teachers 
College,  Columbia  University,  was  asked  to  make  a  special  study  of  normal  school 
curricula.  Dr.  Bagley  has  had  extensive  experience  in  elementary  school  work  as  well 
as  in  normal  schools  in  both  eastern  and  western  parts  of  the  country;  he  is  responsi- 
ble for  most  of  the  sections  discussing  the  curricula  and  for  innumerable  helpful  sug- 
gestions throughout  the  book. 

The  other  participants  in  the  study  as  a  whole  were  Dr.  Charles  A.  McMurry, 
Professor  of  Elementary  Education  at  George  Peabody  College  for  Teachers,  for- 
merly director  of  the  training  department  at  the  Illinois  State  Normal  University 
and  at  the  Northern  Illinois  State  Normal  School;  and  Dr.  George  D.  Strayer,  Pro- 
fessor of  Educational  Administration  at  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University, 
and  late  President  of  the  National  Education  Association.  These  gentlemen,  altho 
already  familiar  with  the  Missouri  institutions,  visited  them  again  for  the  present 
purpose,  and  their  findings  are  embodied  in  the  report. 

Important  use  has  been  made  at  many  points  in  the  text  of  the  statistics  secured 
from  teachers  in  service  in  the  state.  The  work  of  assembling  and  collating  these  has 
been  in  charge  of  Mr.  Homer  W.  Josselyn,  previously  Associate  Professor  of  School 
Administration  in  the  University  of  Kansas. 

A  specific  contribution  of  much  significance  for  its  purpose  was  furnished  by 
Dr.  Walter  F.  Dearborn,  Professor  of  Education  at  Harvard  University.  With  the 
help  of  specially  trained  assistants  from  his  department,  Dr.  Dearborn  carried  out 
an  extensive  series  of  measurements  of  various  forms  of  school  Achievement  in  the 
training  classes  of  the  five  normal  schools.  These  tests  supplied  an  indispensable 
check  upon  the  judgments  of  the  observers,  with  which  they  tallied  to  a  surprising 
degree.  The  main  results  are  printed  in  the  Appendix. 


6  THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS 

Aside  from  the  persons  mentioned  above,  many  others  have  rendered  valuable  aid 
as  the  study  progressed,  either  by  way  of  experienced  judgment  and  advice  or  skilled 
technical  assistance.  Special  acknowledgment  is  due  to  Mrs.  Dorothy  R.  Roberts,  to 
whom  fell  the  arduous  task  of  verifying  and  editing  the  mass  of  tabular  material  on 
which  much  of  the  study  rests. 

Of  the  method  followed  in  the  enquiry  it  may  be  said  that  it  has  been  the  inten- 
tion to  base  conclusions  only  upon  a  first-hand  knowledge  of  all  the  facts,  wherever 
this  was  obtainable.  All  of  the  observers  did  considerable  field  work  in  the  state, 
some  of  them  spending  several  months  there;  personal  written  reports  were  made  to 
them  by  practically  every  normal  school  instructor,  and  by  three-fourths  of  the  stu- 
dents in  attendance  when  the  schools  were  visited;  many  classes  were  attended,  and 
personal  interviews  were  had  with  a  large  number  both  of  teachers  and  of  students; 
the  school  records  were  carefully  examined,  and  in  many  cases  were  verified  by  grad- 
uates. Conditions  affecting  the  normal  schools  in  the  state  at  large  were  judged  by 
an  extended  visit  to  the  Ozark  region,  by  interviews  with  many  county  superintend- 
ents and  written  reports  from  each  one  in  the  state,  and  by  personal  visits  and  inter- 
views with  the  superintendents  in  the  twenty-five  largest  cities  of  the  state  and 
written  reports  from  nearly  all  the  rest*  The  colleges  of  the  Missouri  college  union 
were  visited,  and  while  the  data  collected  from  them  4re  not  contained  in  this  por- 
tion of  the  report,  these  visits  threw  considerable  light  upon  the  work  of  the  normal 
schools  and  upon  educational  conditions  at  large. 

In  the  great  number  of  facts  and  impressions  thus  gathered  the  authors  have  tried 
to  distinguish  the  essential  features  of  the  institutional  situation  as  they  found  it, 
tracing  it,  so  far  as  possible,  to  the  earlier  conditions  that  had  produced  it  The 
catalogues  and  bulletins  of  all  the  schools  from  their  establishment,  and  especially 
the  annual  reports  of  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools  from  1867  on,  fur- 
nished a  gratifying  amount  of  material  for  a  genetic  treatment  of  this  sort.  The 
progress  of  the  schools  since  they  were  examined  in  1915  and  1916  has  not  been 
followed  except  in  certain  isolated  details.  The  study  was  considered  to  have  value 
not  as  giving  a  minute  and  complete  account  of  certain  institutions,  but  rather  as 
an  interpretation  of  the  educational  significance  of  a  certain  order  of  organization 
and  administration  caught  as  nearly  as  might  be  in  cross  section.  Moreover,  the  most 
striking  changes  that  have  taken  place  since  the  schools  were  visited  are  due  to  ab- 
normal conditions,  consequent  upon  the  war,  and  have  an  unnatural  relation  to  what 
went  before;  there  would  be  little  point  in  describing  these. 

The  spirit  of  the  enquiry  is  of  course  critical,  as  befits  any  serious  examination 
of  arrangements  intended  to  modify  the  education  of  a  free  people;  any  other  atti- 
tude is  obviously  inconsistent  with  a  true  conception  of  public  service.  Nevertheless 
it  would  be  impossible  to  frame  or  make  headway  with  proposals  for  improvement 
without  a  sympathetic  appreciation  of  conditions  as  they  exist.  Such  an  appreciation 
was  facilitated  to  an  unusual  degree  by  the  hearty  and  intelligent  co5peration  of 


INTRODUCTION  7 

the  men  and  women  in  the  normal  schools.  With  the  rarest  exceptions  these  work- 
ers met  thei  representatives  of  the  study  apparently  without  other  thought  than  to 
show  clearly  the  real  nature  of  their  problems,  and  to  aid  in  arriving  at  just  and 
effective  conclusions.  It  is  to  their  aid  that  the  authors  are  chiefly  indebted.  Without 
exaggeration,  the  normal  school  teachers  themselves  could  be  regarded  as  the  authors 
of  a  large  portion  of  the  report,  and  if  it  has  been  urged  therein  that  the  develop- 
ment of  the  educational  policies  of  the  schools  be  entrusted  in  much  greater  measure 
to  the  abler  teachers,  it  is  because  this  conclusion  has  grown  out  of  immediate  contact 
with  the  persons  available  for  such  responsibilities. 

C.  A  GENERAL  STATEMENT  OF  CONCLUSIONS 

DEMOCRACY  AND  EDUCATION 

The  subject  of  the  present  study  is  of  surpassing  importance  to  a  democracy.  An 
attempt  has  been  made  to  describe  and  appraise  the  efforts  of  an  American  common- 
wealth to  provide  itself  with  suitable  instructors  for  its  youthful  population.  It  will 
be  generally  admitted  that  the  teachers  of  children  and  youth,  while  not  the  sole  in- 
struments, are  by  far  the  most  influential  instruments  thru  which  a  people  may  con- 
sciously control  its  future;  that  they  directly  determine  in  great  part  both  the  extent 
and  the  degree  to  which  sound  fundamental  ideas  pervade,  unite,  and  move  a  people. 
The  significance  of  an  enquiry  as  to  how  those  teachers  are  chosen  and  prepared  is 
therefore  apparent. 

Furthermore,  the  importance  of  such  a  study  is  vastly  increased  at  a  time  when  the 
whole  democratic  scheme  of  life  is  emerging  from  a  struggle  with  an  opposing  world- 
order  that  exhibits  a  singularly  effective  tho  misdirected  social  organization.  As  an 
outcome  of  the  conflict  a  sincere  democracy  is  compelled  to  consider  how  it  may  ex- 
change its  earlier  forms  and  institutions  for  more  adequate  expressions  of  its  own 
cherished  ideals ;  how  it  shall  acquire  the  power  for  orderly  and  masterful  action  rising 
out  of  a  clear  national  purpose,  and  combine  this  with  its  passion  for  freedom,  truth, 
and  justice  in  individual  relations.  The  democratic  conception  of  society  has  grown 
slowly  by  the  groping  application  of  a  few  fundamental  notions,  and  is  as  yet  scarcely 
more  than  in  bud;  its  full  bloom  into  a  stable  world-order  promises  a  thrilling  spec- 
tacle in  which  America  may  participate  with  great  effect.  What  is  the  central  con- 
dition, if  there  be  such,  on  which  this  epoch-making  development  depends? 

As  a  necessary  means  of  self-preservation  the  consciously  directed  spread  of  true 
ideas  has  long  been  an  admitted  principle  of  democratic  government;  general  intelli- 
gence has  been  ftimlj  felt  to  be  one  of  its  objects,  and  the  school  has  been  accepted 
as  a  proper  instrument  thereto.  But  as  the  most  effectual  means  for  ensuring  human 
safety,  welfare,  and  growth;  as  the  one  defence  against  elements  that  would  ruin  the 
whole  apparatus  of  orderly  progress;  and  consequently  as  the  central  policy  of  ademo- 
cratic  organization,  the  wide  diffusion  of  a  high  Degree  <  of  intelligence  has  been 


8  THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS 

neglected  to  the,present  day.  This  is  the  task  which  now  confronts  us.  The  condition 
that  will  determine  the  successful  development  of  a  genuine  democracy  in  America 
rests  in  our  willingness  to  establish,  as  our  foremost  policy  of  public  action,  a  popu- 
lar education  that  is  substantial  and  unequivocal. 

Universal  compulsory  education,  tho  far  from  achieved,  is  a  familiar  slogan  for 
which  we  make  a  brave  stand;  but  to  the  duration  and  content  of  this  education,  and 
to  the  means  used  in  providing  it,  we  have  paid  little  attention-  Longer  to  counte- 
nance this  delusion  is  to  fail  in  our  great  experiment.  Free  and  true  ideas  important 
to  human  welfare  must  be  brought  skilfully  and  vividly,  and  thru  a  prolonged  period, 
not  to  prospective  leaders  only,  as  some  would  have  it,  but  to  every  child  and  youth. 
To  have  this  contact  is  his  right  as  a  candidate  for  membership  in  a  democratic 
society;  to  profit  by  it  must  be  made  his  primary  obligation.  Even  our  theory  of 
universal  education  has  hitherto  been  satisfied  with  a  scanty  offering  formally  pre- 
sented and  often  properly  declined;  to  pass  it  around  to  all  was  our  main  ambition. 
Henceforth,  the  state  must  assume  responsibility  for  the  product  in  the  case  of  each 
normal  individual  from  the  beginning  well  thru  adolescence.  Hitherto,  if  each  child 
attended  a  school  for  a  few  weeks  in  the  year,  it  has  been  considered  that  the  require- 
ment was  met;  hereafter,  it  is  indispensable  that  each  child  develop  into  what  shall 
be,  according  to  his  abilities,  an  educated  person,  or  show  why  that  is  impossible. 

EDUCATION  AND  THE  TEACHER 

This  shift  in  education  from  a  nominally  universal  to  a  substantial  basis  involves 
preeminently  and  almost  exclusively  the  teacher.  So  far  as  the  state  can  provide  educa- 
tion, the  teacher  is  the  substance  of  it.  The  measure  of  our  past  and  present  deficiency 
is  startlingly  revealed  by  the  manner  in  which  we  have  persistently  evaded  this  fact. 
Education  has  been  much,  and  on  the  whole  reverently,  on  our  lips,  but  so  little 
have  we  grasped  its  purport  that  the  sole  factor  which  can  give  it  reality  and  mean- 
ing, namely,  the  teacher,  is  grossly  ill-equipped,  ill-rewarded,  and  lacking  in  distinc- 
tion. A  school  system  with  us  is  an  elaborate  hierarchical  device  that  undertakes 
thru  successive  gradations  of  textbook  makers,  superintendents,  principals,  and  super- 
visors to  isolate  and  prepare  each  modicum  of  knowledge  and  skill  so  that  it  may 
safely  be  entrusted  to  the  humble  teacher  at  the  bottom,  who  is  drilled  for  a  few 
weeks  only,  if  at  all,  in  directions  for  administering  it  ultimately  to  the  child.  Mean- 
while superintendents  and  school  boards  publicly  measure  their  success  by  numbers 
enrolled,  by  buildings  and  material  equipment  added,  and  by  multiplied  kinds  of 
schooling  introduced;  and  the  people  are  taught  to  accept  this  as  education.  Such 
perversions  are  ample  comment  on  the  thoughtlessness  of  our  formula.  The  school 
authorities  are  rare  who  by  enlightened  and  fearless  propaganda  have  convinced  their 
public  that  education  consists  first  of  all  in  the  superior  quality  and  skill  of  its  in- 
dividual teachers,  and  is  otherwise  meaningless. 

Veritable  education,  as  contrasted  with  the  present  dependence  upon  estimates  by 


INTRODUCTION  9 

bulk  and  housing,  signifies  a  complete  transformation  in  the  character  and  status  of 
the  teaching  profession.  Such  a  transformation  once  properly  accomplished,  the  other 
necessary  modifications  will  inevitably  take  care  of  themselves.  America,  with  its  hun- 
dred millions  of  people,  needs  upward  of  three-quarters  of  a  million  men  and  women 
to  represent  her  with  the  childhood  and  youth  of  the  nation  in  a  deliberate  and  thor- 
ough educative  process.  If  wars  are  to  cease  and  democracy  is  permanently  to  hold  the 
field,  it  will  be  a  democracy  with  sufficient  wisdom  to  confide  this,  its  most  respon- 
sible task,  to  its  most  competent  citizens,  and  to  prepare  them  thoroughly  for  its  safe 
discharge.  Genuine  education,  in  a  sense  consistent  with  any  honest  vision  of  its  mean- 
ing, can  proceed  only  thru  immediate  contact  with  keen  minds  fully  informed  and  per- 
suaded of  what  the  rising  generation  may  become,  and  dedicated  to  such  achievement. 
Persons  so  equipped  will  in  general  not  be  had  unless  the  distinguished  rewards  and 
opportunities  of  life  are  attainable  thru  teaching  careers.  Moreover,  these  careers 
must  not  be  mere  avenues  of  promotion,  as  in  notable  cases  to-day,  but  must  con- 
stitute and  be  recognized  as  opportunities  for  achievement  in  themselves.  Any  other 
course  means  simply  to  exploit  the  future  in  the  interest  of  the  present  by  abandon- 
ing its  control  to  second-rate  minds.  Plato^s  provision  that  the  head  of  the  state  be 
the  director  of  education  expresses  the  unavoidable  perspective  in  a  completed  de- 
mocracy.1 

NEW  STANDARDS  ESSENTIAL  FOE  GENUINE  EDUCATION 

Marked  changes  must  ensue  in  our  present  system  of  schooling  if  we  undertake  to 
carry  out  an  honest  interpretation  of  our  avowed  aim  of  "universal  education*"  by 
making  it  not  only  universal  but  also  education.  In  the  first  place  our  elementary  and 
secondary  school  systems  must  be  thoroughly  integrated  into  one  homogeneous  and 
indivisible  unit  —  a  varied  but  coherent  twelve-year  career  for  mind  and  body, 
whereby,  as  a  youth,  each  citizen  may  acquire  a  certificate  of  the  health,  intelligence, 
and  character  that  underlie  a  successful  society. 

This  done,  distinctions  of  training,  experience,  and  salary  among  teaching  positions 
within  this  unit  must  also  disappear.  Proper  training  for  teaching  the  third  grade 
should  be  as  prolonged  and  as  serious  as  training  for  teaching  the  tenth  or  twelfth 
grade,  and  should  be  equally  well  rewarded.  To  pass  childhood  thru  a  graded  quality 
of  instruction  in  order  finally  to  place  those  who  survive  in  charge  of  real  teachers 
only  at  the  top  is  a  blunder  that  explains  more  of  the  dire  results  noticeable  in  our 
schools  than  we  dare  acknowledge. 

If  the  status  of  all  teachers,  upper  and  lower,  urban  and  rural,  is  to  be  approxi- 
mately the  same  in  an  honestly  equipped  school  system,  what  shall  that  status  be? 
The  standards  of  preparation  cannot  well  be  lower  in  amount  than  those  now  de- 
manded for  superior  secondary  instruction.  Four  years  of  well-directed  training  sub- 

1  The  State  of  Vermont  already  has  the  enviable  distinction  of  paying  its  commissioner  of  education  more  than  any 
other  state  official,  including  the  governor. 


10  THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS 

sequent  to  a  high  school  education  is  sufficient,  with  selected  material,  to  lay  the  foun- 
dations of  a  superior  teacher.  Experience,  skilled  practical  guidance,  and  further  spe- 
cialized study,  attended  always  by  discriminating  selection,  should  result  in  a  group 
having  relatively  high  mental  and  social  power  and  fit  to  serve  any  community  as 
leaders.  For  to  lead  youth  effectively  implies,  by  any  acceptable  definition,  the  power 
and  resources  required  to  lead  the  community  also. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  training  of  any  sort  can  provide  men  and  women  who  are 
equipped  and  willing  to  serve  youth  as  youth  should  be  served,  their  service  is  pre- 
eminent. To  the  individual  parent,  as  to  the  state,  it  is  quite  the  most  appealing  good, 
after  physical  health;  and  it  is  altogether  a  more  difficult  service  than  any  other  to 
render  well.  Teachers  that  approach  such  a  standard  of  work,  therefore,  will  require 
the  recognition  and  rewards  commensurate  with  it.  This  is  a  test  of  shifted  values  that 
can  be  met  in  America  with  the  greatest  ease.  No  question  of  obligation  to  a  class  is 
involved;  it  is  a  case  simply  of  an  enlightened  democracy  purchasing  for  the  future 
goods  that  shall  make  it  great.  Billions  cheerfully  spent  for  defending  and  extend- 
ing liberty  abroad  are  a  challenge,  whatever  the  cost,  to  broaden  and  make  sound  the 
foundations  of  liberty  at  home. 

In  the  schools  the  attainment  of  such  a  standard  would  modify  many  things.  The 
present  methods  and  attitudes  of  supervision  would  disappear;  its  hierarchy  would 
be  transformed.  Organization  would,  of  course,  remain,  but  the  pupil  would  meet  di- 
rectly and  constantly  a  well-selected  and  tested  leader  prepared  to  speak  with  per- 
sonal effect  and  to  win  response  by  virtue  of  trained  intelligence.  Such  leaders,  instead 
of  taking  minute  orders  from  higher  officers,  would  themselves  assume  the  responsi- 
bility, in  joint  action,  for  the  conduct  and  development  of  instruction — the  life- 
long business  of  capable  minds.  In  other  words,  education  would  become  ajint-hand 
process  by  skilled  practitioners  like  any  other  professional  service,  instead  of  a  second 
or  third  hand  operation  with  its  consequent  perfunctory  effects. 

A  NEW  TRAINING  FOE  TEACHEES 

The  degree  of  selection  and  training  contemplated  promises  another  sweeping  im- 
provement of  far-reaching  importance.  In  the  teacher  of  to-day  the  slight  prepara- 
tion required  and  the  casual  way  in  which  the  work  may  be  picked  up  or  dropped 
result  in  a  person  bred  to  routine  and  conformity,  possessing  little  original  insight 
for  his  work.  He  forms  one  of  a  secluded  class,  protected  as  well  as  repressed  by  the 
rigid  machine  of  which  he  is  a  part.  To  correct  this,  we  need  to  pick  out  men  and 
women  of  large  ability  and  give  them  a  long  and  thorough  preparation  aimed  solely 
at  their  future  task.  By  so  doing  we  can  entrust  our  schools  to  independent  and  self- 
possessed  personalities  who  fairly  represent  the  spirit  of  their  time,  who  bring  the 
schools  into  the  vital  current  of  events,  and  make  them  closely  responsive  to  the 
criticisms  and  aspirations  of  the  people  they  serve.  Thus  only  can  we  secure  a  sensi- 
tive and  flexible  education  that  moves  intelligently  and  surely  on  its  path. 


INTRODUCTION  11 

In  demanding  for  all  teachers  the  standards  now  required  for  good  secondary  in- 
struction, the  reference  is  to  their  amount  only.  To  make  a  teacher  in  the  sense  out- 
lined above,  which  is  the  only  sense  in  which  teachers  can  be  of  use  under  future 
conditions,  the  present  form  of  preparation,  elementary  and  secondary  alike,  needs 
revision.  It  is  a  matter  primarily  of  point  of  view.  The  average  secondary  teacher 
to-day  is  a  person  who  has  taken  a  college  course  for  his  own  sake  and  as  he  chose. 
At  or  near  the  close  thereof  he  has  concluded  to  "go  into  teaching" — temporarily, 
and  with  no  thought  of  the  requirements  of  a  difficult  profession.  The  elementary 
teacher  in  the  country  districts  is  untrained;  in  the  cities  he,  or  more  frequently  she, 
has  sometimes  undergone  specific  training,  but  oftener,  particularly  in  the  West,  his 
elementary  school  service  has  been  a  time-marking  occupation  until  he  could  secure 
college  points  sufficient  to  "promote"  him  to  a  high  school,  itself  a  temporary  stopping- 
place  on  the  road  to  a  profession  or,  in  the  case  of  women,  to  marriage.  In  either  group 
the  point  of  view  of  the  public  service  is  neither  enforced  by  the  public  nor  dreamed 
of  by  the  teacher.  The  public  confesses  by  the  measure  of  its  own  rewards  that  the 
quality  of  its  teaching  service  is  no  supreme  or  vital  matter  to  it,  if  only  the  forms  are 
there  according  to  the  letter  of  the  law.  It  therefore  offers  its  candidates,  in  lieu  of 
professional  training,  an  education  that  fits  their  general  needs,  and  invites  them  in 
the  intervals  of  study  to  come  and  manage  the  schools  for  awhile  in  order  to  fill  their 
purses. 

We  are  fast  learning  that  if  democracy  is  to  have  genuine  education  and  survive, 
this  sort  of  thing  must  cease.  The  hollowness  of  the  process  has  its  faithful  counter- 
part in  the  hollowness  of  the  teacher's  plan  and  purpose.  For  a  serious  educative 
undertaking,  the  way  must  be  paved  by  a  thoroughly  well-organized  course  of  train- 
ing, directed  toward  the  specific  work  to  be  done,  and  exhausting  our  professional 
resources  in  that  field.  The  task  is  difficult  and  responsible  enough  even  with  the 
most  liberal  training  we  know;  to  omit  this,  or  to  conceive  the  work  as  an  incidental 
diversion  for  the  employment  of  "general  culture,"  is  to  miss  the  point  completely. 
The  first  and  sole  consideration  in  planning  a  teacher's  preparation  is  the  question : 
Does  this  feature  contribute  most  to  the  effective  discharge  of  the  particular  duty  in 
view,  as  the  welfare  of  the  service  requires?  Personal  considerations  are  beside  the  mark. 

Circumstances  in  America  have  made  us  largely  dependent  upon  women  for  the 
teachers  we  have,  and  the  proposals  made  above  might  not  completely  equalize  men's 
share  in  instruction  even  at  three  or  four  times  the  present  salaries,  tho  it  would  tend 
to  do  so.  Whether  this  ensue  or  not,  the  steps  suggested  would  at  least  remove  the 
meaningless  restriction  of  the  profession  to  unmarried  women.  To  teach  well  is  the 
privilege  of  maturity  and  experience;  it  is  the  prerogative  of  men  and  women  of  affairs, 
of  fatherhood,  of  motherhood;  it  is  the  business  of  brains  and  a  vigorous  social  par- 
ticipation that  draws  the  pupil  into  the  stream  of  interesting  and  instructive  per- 
sons and  events.  What  have  immature  girls  to  do  with  this  except  as  they  prepare 
to  make  it  the  main  object  of  their  lives  irrespective  of  marriage? 


12  THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS 

The  changes  urged  above  have  one  other  interesting  and  important  implication. 
The  attainment  of  an  integrated  school  system,  manned  by  teachers  of  similar  and 
homogeneous  training  for  the  purpose,  involves  a  like  simplification  and  coordina- 
tion of  our  agencies  for  preparing  teachers.  To-day  normal  school  and  university 
reflect  and  perpetuate  the  traditional  cleavage  between  elementary  and  secondary 
school.  In  the  best  instances  there  is  involved  here  only  the  friction  of  overlapping 
territory  rather  than  essentially  unsympathetic  views  of  the  process  by  which  a 
teacher  should  be  prepared.  However  far  apart  some  normal  schools  and  some  uni- 
versities may  be,  the  enlightened  and  progressive  elements  of  each  party  are  moving 
along  the  same  intellectual  road. 

The  time  has  come  to  clear  up  the  existing  confusion.  All  institutional  education 
for  the  teaching  profession  should  be  placed  clearly  upon  a  collegiate  footing  and 
organized  under  a  single  competent  direction  as  a  part  of  the  state  university,  where 
one  exists,  parallel  with  medical,  legal,  engineering,  and  other  similar  divisions  of 
higher  education.  This  signifies  no  "  concessions "  either  to  the  university  or  to  the 
normal  schools.  "  Normal "  schools  should  drop  that  name,  and  as  professional  col- 
leges of  education  should  become  an  acknowledged  part  of  the  greater  university 
whole  simply  because  they  are  a  part  of  the  state's  system  of  higher  education,  which 
is  all  the  term  "university"  now  implies.  We  would  thus  secure  a  unified  and  cen- 
tralized authority  prepared  to  deal  in  a  consistent  and  efficient  manner  with  the 
state's  largest  problem  in  higher  and  professional  education. 

THE  TEACHEK  AND  THE  PUBLIC 

The  type  of  teacher  here  proposed  is  a  radically  different  individual  from  his  pres- 
ent prototype,  and  demands  a  vigorous  and  discriminating  introduction  to  the  pub- 
lic that  he  is  intended  to  serve.  It  is  the  public  that  must  purchase  the  services  of 
such  a  teacher;  it  is  the  public,  therefore,  that  must  be  convinced  of  his  worth. 

Upon  the  teachers  themselves  the  outward  responsibility  for  such  a  movement  can- 
not fairly  be  placed;  from  them  may  reasonably  be  expected  the  maximum  develop- 
ment and  refinement  of  their  own  procedure — a  far  more  conclusive  argument  for 
more  of  it,  at  its  best,  than  any  "demands  for  social  justice"  to  teachers  as  a  class. 
To  double  or  to  treble  the  public  investment  in  such  service,  to  extend  largely  its 
resources  by  broader  and  richer  training,  to  seek  a  selection  of  ability  preeminently 
suited  to  its  purpose — this  is  a  matter  of  public  policy,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  personal  needs  or  demands  of  any  group  of  people.  This  is  the  work  primarily 
of  that  portion  of  the  educated  public  that  knows  the  value  of  good  teachers.  Spe- 
cifically, it  is  to  school  superintendents  and  school  boards,  and,  above  all,  to  state 
commissioners  of  education,  that  the  public  has  a  right  to  look  for  reasoned  and  con- 
vincing insistence  that  the  best  teachers  are  worth  while,  and  it  is  they  who  are 
responsible  for  organizing  public  opinion  to  demand  that  the  best  teachers  be  em- 
ployed. It  is  of  relatively  small  importance  that  teachers  should  be  well  paid  merely 


INTRODUCTION  13 

because  they  are  teachers,  but  it  is  of  supreme  importance  to  any  society  that  com- 
petent teachers  who  are  capable  of  fine  service  should  be  amply  rewarded  and  care- 
fully protected  throughout  their  careers. 

To  attain  this  it  is  proper,  not  that  teachers  themselves  should  agitate,  unionize, 
and  strike,  but  that  school  executives,  municipal  and  state,  in  well-organized  cam- 
paigns, should  rally  their  thousands  of  lay  supporters  and  attack  city  and  state  gov- 
ernments and  the  uninformed  public  opinion  about  them  in  the  interests  of  better 
teaching.  Leadership  of  this  sort  in  the  protection  and  promotion  of  a  community's 
most  precious  asset  is  the  foremost  duty  of  state  and  city  superintendents.  It  is  their 
business  to  make  an  abundance  of  good  teaching  an  arresting  and  winning  cause  in 
chambers  of  commerce,  churches,  rotary  clubs,  labor  unions,  and  similar  civic  and  so- 
cial organizations  of  citizen  parents  who  control  taxation.  Fine  instruction  does  not 
at  present  prevail  in  American  communities  simply  because  it  is  not  understood;  the 
average  parent's  interest  in  his  child's  school  is  almost  imperceptible,  not  because  his 
interest  in  his  child  is  not  profound,  but  because  the  teaching  purpose  and  process 
has  never  taken  the  parent  convincingly  into  its  confidence.  That  such  a  confidence 
would  too  often  exhaust  the  uncertain  and  ill-preparedi  teacher  has  not  assisted  the 
exchange.  Parent- teacher  associations  have  rendered  an  important  service  by  promot- 
ing helpful  social  relations  between  home  and  school,  but  they  obviously  have  not 
taught  the  parent  how  to  discriminate  between  the  teaching  now  provided  and  the 
better  teaching  that  might  be  provided,  nor  is  that  their  purpose.  Here  is  a  field  al- 
most completely  un worked.  Enthusiasm  and  personal  sacrifice  to  secure  good  teach- 
ing for  his  children  are  latent  in  well-nigh  every  parent.  He  must,  however,  know  defi- 
nitely and  vividly  what  good  teaching  is,  and  he  must  understand  clearly  that  its  value 
is  on  the  whole  directly  related  to  its  cost.  Convince  any  American  public  that  the 
alleged  products  of  a  fine  teacher  are  real,  and  the  cost  will  speedily  become  a  wholly 
secondary  consideration. 

THE  PRESENT  CBISIS  IN  PUBLIC  EDUCATION 

It  is  scarcely  appropriate  to  present  a  study  of  conditions  affecting  the  future 
progress  of  public  instruction  in  the  United  States  without  more  than  passing  refer- 
ence to  the  situation  of  the  teacher  arising  from  the  universal  economic  dislocation 
now  ensuing  upon  the  recent  war.  Within  a  few  months  the  value  of  a  teacher's  sal- 
ary or  "  wages  "  has  fallen  approximately  fifty  per  cent  There  is  nothing  ominous 
about  this  fact,  inasmuch  as  the  same  thing  has  happened  to  every  other  salaried 
professional  worker  in  common  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  but  there  are  portentous 
possibilities  in  the  failure  of  school  authorities  to  make  a  prompt  repair  of  the  damage 
their  first  obligation. 

Readjustment  is  slow  for  several  reasons,  but  chiefly  because  it  is  assumed  to  be  a 
question  merely  of  the  personal  comfort  of  a  class  of  public  servants  instead  of  an  im- 
mediate menace  to  the  welfare  of  the  children  and  indirectly  of  the  communities  of 


14  THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS 

which  they  form  a  part.  Popular  pressure  governs  public  taxation.  Orderly  children 
comfortably  housed  exert  no  pressure.  Their  teachers  may  descend  the  full  scale  of 
excellence  with  little  popular  protest  and  with  an  agreeable  decrease  in  the  budget. 
Where  this  result  can  be  achieved  simply  by  letting  salaries  stand  still,  as  at  pres- 
ent, those  taxpayers  who  are  intent  solely  upon  their  income  make  full  use  of  the 
opportunity  before  the  friends  of  education  find  their  voices.  To-day,  therefore,  in- 
stead of  a  sensitive  public  opinion  moving  swiftly  to  defend  our  finest  possession,  we 
have  the  unhappy  spectacle  of  a  rapidly  accelerating  exodus  from  the  staffs  of  public 
schools  throughout  the  country ;  and  very  many  schools  cannot  open  their  doors  be- 
cause of  lack  of  teachers,  even  the  poorest. 

The  situation  is  complicated  by  a  further  unfortunate  but  obvious  difficulty.  The 
school  superintendent  of  any  given  community  should  be  the  one  intelligent  and 
determined  stimulus  or  rallying-point,  as  the  case  may  be,  for  all  forces  seeking  better 
public  education.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  conditions  of  tenure  in  this  country 
have  been  such  that  in  probably  the  majority  of  communities  the  school  superintend- 
ent feels  more  keenly  and  responds  more  readily  to  the  pressure  of  the  "  business  in- 
terests "  than  to  the  less  vociferous  appeals  for  better  schools.  Superintendents  who 

stake  their  careers  on  the  one  really  important  objective  in  their  entire  program 

better  salaries  for  better  teachers  —  court  removal,  or  loss  of  influence.  Hence  the  real 
initiative  in  such  a  proposal  is  more  often  awaited  from  other  sources,  or  is  left  to  the 
school  board  as  it  may  be  moved  to  emulate  other  cities.  The  numerous  and  splendid 
examples  of  the  contrary  courageous  policy,  by  skilfully  attracting  popular  support, 
have  steadily  improved  standards  of  salary,  and  have  given  American  schools  what 
excellence  they  possess.  In  such  a  crisis  as  the  present,  these  men  gather  up  all  the 
weight  of  a  public  sentiment  that  they  have  assiduously  organized  and  cultivated, 
and  save  their  hard  won  gains  by  bringing  their  teachers'  salaries  promptly  to  the 
new  level. 

It  may  safely  be  said  that  it  is  not  the  intention  of  the  American  people  to  sacri- 
fice the  American  school,  both  present  and  future,  to  the  whim  of  a  sudden  economic 
upheaval — an  upheaval,  the  net  result  of  which,  far  from  touching  the  country's 
resources,  has  produced  such  material  expansion  and  enrichment,  both  absolute 
and  relative  to  other  countries,  as  few  nations  in  history  have  ever  yet  experienced. 
Wealth  for  public  education  is  potentially  available  as  never  before.  Personnel,  too, 
is  abundant.  To-day,  as  always,  the  supply  of  "bom  teachers  "  is  far  beyond  the  de- 
mand. The  sole  need  is  to  make  it  worth  while  for  gifted  teachers  to  secure  thorough 
training  and  to  spend  their  lives  in  providing  that  which  every  intelligent  adult  most 
desires,  both  for  himself  and  for  his  children,  and  that  which  alone  in  the  end  exalts 
a  nation. 

All  of  the  elements  in  the  situation  favor  not  only  a  speedy  recovery  of  the  old 
equilibrium,  but  a  notable  shift  of  wealth  and  emphasis  in  favor  of  far  better  public 
schools,  that  is,  of  far  better  teaching,  than  has  ever  been  known  before.  Our  illumi- 


INTRODUCTION  15 

nating  experiences  with  education,  both  positive  and  negative,  in  our  own  army ;  the 
significant  disclosures  of  the  war  in  the  behavior  of  foreign  nations,  both  allied  and 
opposed,  as  a  result  of  their  educational  practices;  the  greatly  refined  definition  of 
the  democratic  human  purpose  and  ideal  as  the  assured  outcome  of  the  long  struggle; 
and  finally,  the  general  shock  of  pervasive  change  and  rapid  readjustment  that  has 
delivered  us  from  old  conventions  and  favors  fresh  attitudes; — all  of  these  novel  and 
impressive  considerations  urge  us  manifestly  in  one  direction.  There  probably  never 
was  a  time  in  our  history  when  popular  education  could  be  brought  so  easily  into  a 
permanently  larger  financial  perspective,  when  an  abundance  of  good  teaching  could 
be  made  available  with  such  unanimity  from  all  sides,  as  just  now. 

Those  who  desire  this  outcome  of  the  present  opportunity  must  move  to  its  accom- 
plishment, and  the  foremost  requirement  for  the  purpose  is  simply  the  indispensable 
steering-gear  of  all  successful  democratic  progress — the  effectual  organization  and 
thrust  of  a  resolute  public  opinion.  Whether  set  in  motion  by  a  skilful  superintend- 
ent as  his  main  line  of  defence,  or  operating  in  spite  of  deputed  agents,  there  should 
be  for  every  school  system  an  independent  and  unofficial  organ  of  approval  or  criti- 
cism wherewith  to  focus  progressive  opinion,  to  invigorate  official  ideals,  or  to  turn 
the  scale  of  wavering  decisions  in  favor  of  the  better  cause* 

Just  now,  especially,  there  is  needed  in  every  community  that  has  not  already 
doubled  its  appropriations  for  teachers'  salaries  in  the  present  emergency,  a  vigorous 
Citizens'  Committee  for  Public  Safety  in  Education.  Let  such  a  body  first  conduct  a 
more  or  less, formal  referendum  on  the  present  issue,  clearly  stated:  "Shall  the  per- 
sons with  whom  our  children  are  obliged  to  spend  five  to  six  hours  daily  in  school, 
obeying  their  directions  and  absorbing  their  ideas,  be  a  dull  and  sordid  group  of 
spiritless  wage  workers,  or  shall  they  be  select  and  skilful  men  and  women  possessed 
of  such  intellectual  and  social  power  and  status  as  we  desire  our  children — all  chil- 
dren— to  assume?"  Then  let  this  body  do  its  utmost  to  give  the  verdict  immediate 
effect  by  demanding  greatly  increased  rewards,  better  conditions  of  work,  and,  above 
all,  longer  training  and  more  critical  selection. 

When  the  actual  desires  of  the  individual  parents,  and  of  all  other  generous  and 
far-sighted  minds  everywhere,  become  clearly  articulate  on  this  point  there  will  be 
no  "crisis  in  education;"  there  will  be  only  the  overwhelming  recognition  that  the 
teacher  must  represent,  not  another  worker  merely,  like  the  rest  of  us,  but  a  spirit- 
ual institution;  that,  before  all  others,  this  person,  set  as  a  copy  and  guide  to  youth 
for  months  and  years  together,  must  be  the  visible  embodiment  of  the  ideal  that 
the  present  generation  holds  for  its  successors.  It  will  then  be  agreed  that  those  fine 
personalities  that  can  render  this  service  must  be  cherished  and  protected,  enabled 
to  live  life  as  life  is  meant  to  be  lived,  and  encouraged  to  transmit  its  best  product  to 
our  children  who  create  the  future. 


II 

THE  STATE  OF  MISSOURI 
SURFACE  FEATURES 

MISSOURI  is  one  of  the  larger  states  and  among  the  wealthiest  in  the  American  Union. 
It  lies  along  the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi  River,  extending  in  rhomboidal  shape 
thru  some  four  degrees  of  latitude  northwest  from  parallel  26°  30",  which  is  likewise 
the  southern  boundary  of  Kentucky  and  Virginia.  The  Missouri  River  (  "  The  Great 
Muddy  "),  from  which  the  state  derives  its  name,  forms  the  northern  part  of  its  west- 
ern boundary  as  far  as  Kansas  City.  Turning  eastward  at  that  point,  the  river  crosses 
the  centre  of  the  state  to  a  point  near  St.  Louis  on  the  Mississippi,  thus  furnishing 
a  natural  highway  between  these  two  important  centres  in  which  the  large  affairs  of 
the  entire  region  are  mainly  transacted.  In  length  of  navigable  waterways  within  or 
on  Its  borders  Missouri  stands  fifth  among  the  states. 

The  total  area  is  about  seventy  thousand  square  miles,  or  nearly  two-thirds  that 
of  the  kingdom  of  Italy.  The  northern,  northwestern,  and  western  portions  contain 
some  of  the  most  productive  farm  land  in  the  country,  while  the  south  central  sec- 
tion is  occupied  by  the  low  dome  of  the  northern  Ozarks,  in  general  elevations  of 
from  eleven  to  sixteen  hundred  feet  above  the  sea.  These  give  place  in  the  extreme 
southeast  to  a  small  area  of  Mississippi  lowlands,  where  conditions  are  typically 
southern. 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  POPULATION 

The  population  within  these  limits  represents  the  coalescence  of  several  elements. 
While  the  territory  was  still  in  French  and  Spanish  hands,  many  Americans,  chiefly 
from  the  southern  states,  found  their  way  past  the  French  colonies  and  trading-posts 
that  lined  the  Mississippi,  and  took  up  homesteads  in  the  interior.  When  the  Louisi- 
ana Territory  was  purchased  by  the  United  States  in  180S,  about  three-fifths  of  the 
inhabitants,  largely  confined  to  what  is  now  Missouri,  were  Americans,  including 
what  negroes  they  brought  with  them,  and  after  that  date  the  immigration  from  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee,  and  Virginia  continued  yet  more  rapidly.  From  1815  on,  arrivals 
from  north  of  the  Ohio  were  numerous,  tho  not  until  sometime  after  the  Civil  Wax- 
did  they  tend  to  dominate  the  state.1 

Not  far  from  one-fourth  (2£.7  per  cent)  of  the  entire  population  is  of  foreign  ex- 
traction, and  of  this  element  about  one-half  is  German;  Irish,  English,  and  Russians 
are  the  next  in  frequency,  tho  in  small  proportions.  The  German  element  is  an  old 

1  The  reports  of  the  county  superintendents  shortly  after  the  Civil  War  throw  some  lighten  immigration  from  other 
f?1??,^.1  fc  ^fected  education.  Thus  in  1868  Clinton  County  reports  :  "The  Eastern  teachers  are  generally  well  qual- 
ified. The  Greene  County  superintendent  says :  "A  large  majority  of  our  teachers  were  educated  in  the  East  and 
came  here  expressly  to  teach."  And  the  superintendent  in  Henry  County  ^ives  the  following  interesting:  informa- 
tion :  We  have  a  very  fair  corps  of  teachers,"  From  "Ohio,  seventeen ;  Indiana,  eleven  ;  Missouri,  ten ;  Illinois,  five  ; 
Iowa  two;  Virginia,  two;  Kentucky,  one;  New  Hampshire,  one;  New  York,  one;  Vermont,  one;  Pennsylvania, 
SSiJSf  TmV°n\;  Te?n*f  ee<  °ne;  and  Canada,  one."  These  teachers  received  from  $85  to  $40  per  month -not 
Sim \\  «  HT  +* each*r?  >n  thjsamf  district  to-day.  (See  Report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools,  1808.  This 
annual  publication  will  be  referred  to  hereafter  as  the  State  Report*} 


THE  STATE  OF  MISSOURI 


17 


one,  appearing  first  about  1845,  and  passing  its  maximum  inflow  long  before  the 
century  closed.  The  attitude  of  the  state  toward  slavery  as  well  as  its  progress  in 
education  seems  to  have  been  favorably  afiected  by  these  newcomers.  Most  immi- 
grants from  abroad  prefer  urban  to  rural  conditions.  In  1910  persons  of  foreign  birth 
or  parentage  constituted  thirty-eight  per  cent  of  the  white  urban  population  in 
Missouri,  and  only  twelve  per  cent  in  the  rural  districts.  The  total  proportion  of 
foreign  birth  in  1910  showed  no  increase  since  1900.  The  countries  from  which  the 
increases  relative  to  1900  were  largest  are  Greece,  Turkey,  Roumania,  Hungary,  and 
Mexico;  Russia  and  Italy  more  than  doubled  the  number  of  their  representatives 
and  Austria  nearly  so. 

In  total  population  Missouri,  with  about  three  and  one-quarter  millions,  ranks 
seventh  among  the  states,  altho  its  land  area  gives  it  only  the  eighteenth  place. 
Nearly  five  per  cent  are  negroes — a  slowly  dwindling  element  largely  confined  to 
towns ;  slightly  over  one  per  cent  of  the  Missouri  farmers  are  negroes.  About  three- 
fifths  of  the  total  population  live  in  the  country  or  in  places  with  fewer  than  twenty- 
five  hundred  inhabitants.  This  class  diminished  somewhat  (3.5  per  cent)  between  19001 
and  1910,  while  the  urban  population  increased  more  than  one-fifth  during  the  same 
period.  Seventy-one  out  of  the  one  hundred  fourteen  counties  showed  a  loss  in  1910 
as  compared  with  twenty  that  had  decreased  in  1900,  while  the  absolute  gain  in  St. 
Louis  City,  St.  Louis  County,  and  Jackson  County,  where  Kansas  City  is  located, 
far  outweighed  the  gain — six  per  cent — in  the  state  as  a  whole.  In  density  of  pop- 
ulation Missouri  leads  all  states  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  is  similar  to  .New  Hamp- 
shire, Michigan,  and  Virginia  in  the  East. 

OCCUPATIONS 

The  distribution  of  occupations  in  Missouri  follows  closely  that  of  the  United  States 
as  a  whole.  While  not  quite  so  typical  as  Indiana  or  Wisconsin,  the  state  exhibits  a 
disposition  of  occupations  that  is  wholly  representative  of  the  country  at  large.  The 
distribution  in  1910  of  persons  ten  years  of  age  and  over  who  were  engaged  in  gainful 
occupations  in  the  United  States  and  in  Missouri  was  as  follows : 


Agriculture, 
Forestry,  and 
Animal  Hus- 
bandry 

Extraction 
of 
Minerals 

Manufacturing 
and  Mechanical 
Industries 

Trans- 
porta- 
tion 

Trade 

Public 
Service 

Profes- 
sional 
Service 

Domestic 
and  Per- 
sonal Ser- 
vice 

Clerical 
Occupa- 
tions 

U.S. 

33.2%    • 

2.5% 

27.9% 

6.9% 

9.5% 

1.2% 

4.4% 

9.9% 

4.6% 

Missouri 

35.5 

2.1 

23.6 

7.1 

11.1 

1.1 

4.7 

9.8 

5.0 

As  appears  above,  the  emphasis  falls  on  the  agricultural  rather  than  on  the  manu- 
facturing phase  of  industry,  altho  both  are  important.  Missouri  rants  fifth  among 
the  states  in  the  total  value  of  its  farm  property,  which  showed  in  1910  a  relative 

1  Missouri  was  one  of  six  states  with  diminished  rural  population  in  1910,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Ohio,  Indiana, 
and  Iowa  being  t|ie  others. 


18  THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS 

increase  greater  than  In  any  decade  since  I860;  it  ranks  tenth  in  the  value  per  acre 
of  its  farm  land,  and  sixth  in  the  total  value  of  its  crops,  of  which  cereals,  chiefly  corn,, 
constitute  two-thirds.  As  the  number  of  farmers  decreases,  the  size  of  farms  increases 
slightly;  the  proportion  of  tenant  farmers  has  remained  nearly  the  same  during  the 
past  thirty  years — thirty  per  cent, 

In  manufactures  Missouri  is  the  ninth  state  in  number  of  establishments,  tenth  in 
total  value  of  manufactured  products,  and  eleventh  in  number  of  wage- earners.  Three- 
quarters  of  the  manufacturing  is  done  in  ten  cities  of  ten  thousand  or  more  inhab- 
itants, two-thirds  of  it  in  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  alone — the  only  cities  in  the  state 
having  over  one  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  The  particular  industries  are  well  dis- 
tributed. The  following  furnish  the  greatest  proportions  of  the  total  value  of  man- 
ufactured products:  slaughtering  and  meat-packing  (13.9  per  cent),  boots  and  shoes 
(8.5  per  cent),  flour-mill  and  grist-mill  products  (7.8  per  cent),  and  printing  and  pub- 
lishing (5.S  per  cent).  In  value  of  mining  products  Missouri  ranks  eleventh.  Over  two- 
thirds  of  this  comes  from  lead  and  zinc  mines,  which  furnish  about  seventy  per  cent 
of  the  entire  American  output  of  these  metals. 

POLITICAL  HISTORY 

Politically  the  state  fills  a  unique  place  in  the  story  of  the  nation's  development. 
On  its  admission  as  a  slave-holding  state  in  1821  was  conditioned  the  freedom  of 
all  other  territory  north  of  its  southern  boundary,  included  in  the  Louisiana  Purchase 
of  1803.  As  a  border  state  of  the  early  southern  group  it  was  peculiarly  accessible  to 
northern  influences,  and  soon  developed  a  strong  anti-slavery  minority.  This  party 
held  the  state  for  the  Union  during  the  Civil  War,  and  induced  it  voluntarily  to 
abandon  slavery  and  to  sacrifice  nearly  as  many  lives  in  the  Union  cause  as  did 
Massachusetts.  After  ten  years  of  radical  Republican  government  during  and  after  the 
Civil  War,  the  state  gradually  returned  to  its  normal  democratic  affiliation,  which  it 
retained  until  1909.  Since  then  its  parties  have  been  more  evenly  balanced.  The  first 
constitution  of  18£0  was  overthrown  by  the  upheaval  during  the  war,  and  was  fol- 
lowed in  1865  by  an  instrument  containing  a  remarkable  mixture  of  intolerance  and 
reform,  to  which  in  protest  succeeded  the  constitution  of  1875,  a  conservative,  and 
in  some  respects  repressive,  fundamental  law  under  which,  with  occasional  amend- 
ment, the  state  has  operated  ever  since.  A  revision  is  greatly  needed  and  apparently 
very  generally  desired. 

EDUCATIONAL  DEVELOPMENT 

In  education  Missouri  has  furnished  an  instructive  chapter,  particularly  in  its 
experience  with  the  idea  of  public  schooling  at  public  expense.  The  characteristic 
feature  of  its  history  in  this  respect  has  been  the  struggle  between  a  well-informed 
and  devoted  educational  leadership  and  an  exceedingly  conservative  legislative  opin- 
ion. The  attitude  of  the  public  mind  was  first  determined  by  the  traditions  of  the 


THE  STATE  OF  MISSOURI  19 

original  settlers  from  southern  states,  where  education  was  a  family  matter  to  be  ac- 
complished thru  private  neighborhood  cooperation,  or  by  means  of  tutor  and  gov- 
erness. The  idea  of  free  public  education  was  associated  habitually  with  charitable 
provision  for  poor  and  orphaned  children.1  This  point  of  view  was  further  sanctioned 
by  a  religious  motive,,  which  operated  with  more  or  less  vigor  to  retain  all  education 
under  sectarian  influences.  The  impulse  to  education  was  as  active  in  early  Missouri 
history  as  anywhere  else  in  the  nation.  Denominational  colleges  were  established  liter- 
ally by  the  score.  The  Baptists  alone,  the  most  numerous  among  Protestant  denomi- 
nations, founded  sixteen  colleges,  of  which  four  still  survive.  But  enthusiasm  for 
free  schools,  controlled  and  supported  by  state  and  local  authority  and  independ- 
ent of  religious  affiliation,  was  a  slow  growth. 

Previous  to  18S4,  therefore,  educational  legislation  was  confined  to  the  charter- 
ing of  private  academies.  The  legislation  of  1834, 1835,  and  1839,  altho  foreshadow- 
ing a  system  of  free  public  schools,  was  either  wholly  inoperative  or  but  partly  effec- 
tive. Taxation  for  school  purposes  was  in  general  hotly  opposed  by  the  rich,  and 
by  those  who  had  no  children.  "Subscription"  schools,  where  for  perhaps  a  dollar  a 
month  per  child  a  teacher  would  give  instruction  as  long  as  he  could  hold  attendance, 
abounded  in  all  parts  of  the  state.  An  act  of  1853  permanently  established  a  state 
superintendency,  except  for  the  period  of  the  Civil  War,  and  marked  progress  in 
financial  support,  but  in  1861,  altho  all  counties  were  organized,  about  one-fourth 
of  the  school  expenses  was  still  supplied  from  tuition  fees.  It  was  then  estimated  that 
one  hundred  thousand  children  in  the  state  at  large  did  not  attend  school,  and  that 
nearly  one-fifth  of  the  organized  school  districts  had  no  schoolhouses.2 

The  close  of  the  Civil  War  found  radical  elements  for  the  first  time  in  control. 
These  immediately  set  out  to  popularize  the  free  public  school,  and  succeeded  to  the 
extent  at  least  of  securing  "qualified  toleration,"  as  Superintendent  Monteith  put 
it.  Normal  schools  won  a  foothold;  centralized  county  supervision  was  inaugurated, 
and  for  a  time  the  outlook  for  public  education  was  bright,  only  to  be  clouded  again 
by  the  reaction  of  1874  and  1875,  when  the  earlier  balance  of  opinion  was  restored. 
County  superintendents  were  then  abolished  contrary  to  the  judgment,  it  would 
appear,  of  nearly  every  important  educational  authority  in  the  state,  and  in  spite  of 
continued  agitation  they  were  not  restored  until  1909.  The  normal  schools  fought  for 
their  lives  in  the  legislature  for  ten  years  or  more,  and  when  finally  accepted,  were  but 
meagrely  supported.  The  constitution  of  1875  laid  down  financial  restrictions  that 
have  ever  since  made  the  state  appear  to  be  throttling  its  own  educational  interests. 

Thru  all  this  tlie  educational  leaders  of  the  commonwealth  have  held  a  true  course; 
the  state  has  at  least  been  well  advised.  The  whole  series  of  state  superintendents, 

1  The  charter  of  Ste,  Genevieve  Academy,  1808,  provides  that  the  children  of  the  poor  and  of  Indians  shall  be  taught 
gratis.  The  constitution  of  1820,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  1,  reads:  "  One  school  or  more  shall  be  established  in  each  township  as 
soon  as  practicable  and  necessary  where  the  poor  shall  be  taught  gratis."  The  school  law  of  1839  provides  schools 
at  which  children  of  "indigent  persons  "are 'to  he  admitted  without  payment  toward  the  teacher's  wages  and 
without  supplying  their  allotted  share  of  the  fuel.  (Art.  IV.  Sec.  SI,  42.) 
a  State  Report,  1861,  pa&es  107, 108  (Senate-Journal,  21st  G.  A.  Sess.  1,  App.). 


20  THE  PROFESSIONAL  PKEPAEATION  OE  TEACHERS 

with  scarcely  an  exception,  altho  of  necessity  party  men,  and  not  always  broadly 
educated,  labored  heroically,  regardless  of  party,  for  a  sound  and  effective  program. 
While  recording  chiefly  their  helpless  struggles  with  confused  and  inadequate  legis- 
lation, their  annual  reports  have  urged  unremittingly  the  best  and  most  obvious 
practical  improvements.  To  these  efforts  were  added  the  generally  harmonious  support 
and  propaganda  of  the  university  and  normal  schools,  the  private  colleges,  and  other 
institutional  agencies.  From  about  the  turn  of  the  new  century,  and  with  the  dis- 
appearance of  the  preceding  generation  of  lawmakers,  this  tedious  campaign  of  educa- 
tion began  to  bear  fruit,  and  the  period  since  then  has  witnessed  some  excellent  con- 
structive legislation — the  beginnings  of  a  system  worthy  of  the  needs  and  resources 
of  a  great  state. 

As  a  problem  for  education,  and  particularly  as  a  problem  in  the  preparation  of 
teachers  for  a  public  school  system,  the  State  of  Missouri  may  fairly  be  regarded  as 
typical  of  the  country  as  a  whole.  Characteristics  of  surface  and  population  are  mark- 
edly representative.  In  their  organization  of  public  education  the  northern  and  west- 
ern states  are  in  general  superior,  while  the  southern  states  fall  somewhat,  often 
considerably,  behind.  If  certain  significant  criteria  given  usually  in  the  reports  of 
the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education  be  reviewed,  the  rather  low  average 
position  of  the  state  becomes  apparent.  These  rankings  of  1915-16  give  the  following 
result : 

Amount  Rank 
among 
States 

Average  expenditure  per  capita  of  population  five  to  eighteen  years  of  age  $19.97  32d 

Average  number  of  days  attendance  for  each  child  five  to  eighteen  years  of  age            96.1  25th 

Average  number  of  days  attendance  by  each  pupil  enrolled  118.5  30th 

Average  number  of  days  schools  were  kept  161,8  29th 

Number  attending  daily  for  each  100  enrolled  73.2  27th 

Proportion  of  school  population  enrolled  81.08%  18th 

Proportion  of  secondary  school  attendance1  15.4%  28th 

Average  monthly  salary  of  all  teachers  $69.19  21st 

Income  of  permanent  school  funds  $872,289.00  7th 

Illiterates  among  native  whites  of  native  parentage  3,4/%?  35th 

In  six  of  the  ten  items  given  above,  Missouri  ranks  below  the  median,  and  in  a 
seventh  the  state  is  itself  the  median  among  the  forty-nine  independent  units  that 
constitute  the  nation.  The  relation  of  school  expenditure  to  the  per  capita  wealth 
of  the  state  would  appear  to  be  of  equal  importance  with  the  points  already  noted. 
But  the  fact  that  Missouri  ranks  twenty-ninth  in  per  capita  wealth  and  twenty-sev- 
enth in  proportion  of  school  expenditure  thereon  loses  much  of  its  apparent  mean- 
ing as  an  educational  measure,  when  it  is  considered  that  Massachusetts  ranks  twenty- 

1  Not  given  in  the  Commissioner's  Report.  The  figure  used  here  is  the  proportion  of  secondary  students  in  public 
and  private  schools,  1915-16,  with  reference  to  the  population  from  15  to  19  years  of  ag-e,  inclusive.  The  latter  fac- 
tor was  secured  by  taking,  of  the  total  population,  as  estimated  by  the  Census  Bureau  for  1916,  such  a  proportion 
as  the  age  group  in  question  constituted  of  the-  total  population  in  1910.  For  Missouri  this  was  10.1  per  cent.  The 
absolute  proportion  thus  arrived  at  is,  of  course,  open  to  criticism;  for  purposes  of  comparison.,  however,  the  mea- 
sure is  significant:  it  ranges  from  35.1  per  cent  in  California  to  6.5  per  cent  in  South  Carolina. 


THE  STATE  OF  MISSOURI  21 

seventh  in  per  capita  wealth  and  third  in  the  proportion  expended  for  schools,  while 
Idaho  ranks  thirty-first  in  wealth  and  leads  the  states  in  the  proportion  given  to 
schools.1 

However  closely  this  condition  in  Missouri  may  approximate  the  average  or  median, 
the  reason  for  it  is  hardly  typical  of  those  other  communities  in  which  a  similar  or 
worse  state  of  public  education  exists;  in  Missouri  it  is  simply  an  acquiescent  atti- 
tude of  mind  that  is  responsible,  whereas  elsewhere  the  situation  is  usually  compli- 
cated by  difficult  racial  considerations.  A  thriving  university  of  national  importance, 
six  prosperous  normal  schools,  a  half  a  score  of  private  colleges  of  good  repute — all 
bear  testimony  to  a  vigorous  intellectual  life;  while  the  metropolis  of  the  state  pos- 
sesses a  school  system  that  competent  critics  consider  among  the  first  two  or  three  in 
America.  Such  a  state  may  have  whatever  it  most  desires. 


1  These  figures  are  taken  from  the  Commissioner's  Report  for  1917,  and  are  for  1912. 


Ill 

ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 
A.  THE  ORIGIN  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

EARLIEST  ADVOCACY  OF  TEACHER-TRAINING 

THE  recognition  that  a  teacher  should  have  qualifications  for  his  profession  some- 
what more  specialized  than  the  vague  requirement  that  he  be  a  "fit  person  ''  appears 
to  have  dawned  faintly  toward  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In  1789  there 
appeared  in  the  Massachusetts  Magazine  an  "Essay  upon  the  Importance  of  Study- 
ing the  English  Language  Grammatically,"  in  which  the  author  advocates  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  public  grammar  school  in  each  county  in  place  of  the  existing  Latin 
grammar  schools.  "At  the  head  of  this  county  school  I  would  place  an  able  precep- 
tor, who  should  superintend  the  whole  instruction  of  youth  entrusted  to  his  care, 
and  who,  together  with  a  board  of  overseers,  should  annually  examine  young  gentle- 
men designed  for  schoolmasters  in  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  English  gram- 
mar, and  if  they  are  found  qualified  for  the  office  of  schoolkeeping  and  able  to  teach 
these  branches  with  ease  and  propriety,  to  recommend  them  for  this  purpose.  No 
man  ought  to  be  suffered  to  superintend  ever  so  small  a  school  except  he  has  been 
first  examined  by  a  body  of  men  of  this  character  and  authorized  for  this  purpose." 
It  may  be  objected  that  this  statement  is  not  a  definite  advocacy  of  training  for  the 
teaching  profession ;  it  will  be  admitted,  however,  that  the  insistence  on  proper  selec- 
tion and  some  form  of  certification  are  at  least  essential  steps  in  the  direction  of 
more  adequate  professional  preparation. 

Professor  Denison  Olmstead,  of  Yale  College,  was  more  specific  in  his  commence- 
ment address  in  181S  on  "The  State  of  Education  in  Connecticut."  Here  is  presented 
a  definite  recommendation  of  a  seminary  for  schoolmasters  in  which  6Cthe  pupils  were 
to  study  and  recite  whatever  they  themselves  were  afterwards  to  teach,  partly  for 
the  purpose  of  acquiring  a  more  perfect  knowledge  of  these  subjects,  and  partly  of 
learning  from  the  methods  adopted  by  the  principal  the  best  modes  of  teaching.""  The 
course  was  to  include  lectures  on  the  organization  and  government  of  schools.  Eleven 
years  later  another  Yale  professor,  James  L.  Kingsley,  advocated  in  the  NortJi  Amer- 
ican  Review  the  establishment  of  an  institution  "intermediate  between  the  com- 
mon schools  and  the  university.'1  "Such  a  measure  would  give  new  vigor  to  the  whole 
system  of  education.  The  board  of  visitors,  which  now  decides  on  the  qualifications 
of  instructors,  must  be,  in  most  instances,  a  very  imperfect  check  on  the  intrusion  of 
ignorance.  The  teachers,  it  is  understood,  have  now  very  seldom  any  other  prepara- 
tion than  they  receive  in  the  very  school  where  they  afterwards  instruct,  or  in  the 
school  of  some  neighboring  district,  where  the  advantages  for  improvement  are  no 
better."  In  a  pamphlet,  Sitgrgestions  on  Ed^^Jcation^  also  written  in  18£3,  William 
Russell,  a  teacher  in  the  New  Township  Academy  in  New  Haven,  who  in  18S6  be- 
came the  editor  of  one  of  the  earliest  American  professional  magazines,  the  Journal 


NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES          .        28 

of  Education,  supported  Professor  Kingsley's  recommendation  and  attributed  the  in- 
adequacy of  the  common  schools  to  the  lack  of  trained  teachers.  This  defect  could  be 
removed  by  the  establishment  of  seminaries  for  the  training  and  licensing  of  teachers. 

EARLY  EXPERIMENTS 

The  suggestions  of  Kingsley  and  Russell  had  been  anticipated  by  a  few  months  by 
the  Rev.  Samuel  R.  Hall,  who,  after  a  successful  teaching  experience  of  eight  years, 
opened  a  seminary  for  the  training  of  teachers  at  Concord,  Vermont,  in  March,  18£3. 
In  1829  Hall  published  the  first  American  textbook  on  education,  Lectures  on  School- 
Keeping^  which  had  a  great  vogue  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  and  in  New  York 
State  and  Kentucky  was  officially  distributed  among  the  teachers.  When  the  Teach- 
ers' Seminary  was  organized  in  1830  as  a  department  of  the  Phillips  Academy  at  An- 
dover,  "  to  afford  the  means  of  a  thorough  scientific  and  practical  education  prepar- 
atory to  the  profession  of  teaching,"  Hall  became  the  first  principal  and  remained 
until  1837,  when  he  took  charge  of  another  school  at  Plymouth,  New  Hampshire. 
Lecturing  in  1833  on  the  "Necessity  of  Educating  Teachers,"  Hall  stated  that  "there 
is  not  in  our  whole  country,  one  seminary  where  the  educator  of  children  can  be  thor- 
oughly qualified  for  his  important  work."  He  then  referred  to  the  thirty  seminaries 
in  Prussia  and  to  a  few  schools  in  Massachusetts  which  "devote  particular  attention 
to  the  qualifications  of  teachers,  but  yet  in  connection  with  a  general  school  for  the 
common  purposes  of  education.""  He  clearly  had  in  mind  the  establishment  of  sep- 
arate professional  institutions,  when  he  urged,  "Educate  men  for  the  business  of 
teaching,  employ  and  pay  them  when  educated." 

Neither  the  establishment  of  the  seminary  at  Concord  in  1823  nor  its  subsequent 
success  appears  to  have  attracted  much  attention.  Efforts  to  secure  the  establishment 
of  institutions  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  became  more  frequent  and  more  insist- 
ent about  1825,  and  appai'ently  the  movement  was  spontaneous  and  for  a  time,  at  any 
rate,  was  but  slightly  influenced  by  foreign  example  and  practice.  In  1825  Walter  R. 
Johnson,  of  German  town,  Pennsylvania,  wrote  Observations  on  the  Improvement  of 
Seminaries  of  Learning  in  the  United  States ',  with  Suggestions  for  its  Accomplishment. 
Foremost  among  his  suggestions  was  that  for  the  establishment  of  seminaries  for 
teachers  similar  to  those  existing  in  Prussia.  "  A  perfect  plan  for  the  education  of 
teachers  and  professors  would  require  that  the  institution  with  which  the  school  for 
teachers  is  proposed  to  be  connected  should  embrace  a  complete  circle  of  the  sciences 
and  arts,  and  that  a  professor  should  be  appointed  to  lecture  on  the  mode  of  teach- 
ing in  each  separate  department."  The  professional  preparation  should  include  the 
study  of  the  theory  and  principles  of  education,  school  practice  and  government, 
and  the  science  of  mental  development.  In  the  same  year  Philip  Lindsey,  the  acting 
president  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  in  an  address  at  Princeton  urged  that  "Our 
country  needs  Seminaries  purposely  to  train  up  and  qualify  young  men  for  the  pro- 
fession of  teaching.  We  have  our  theological  seminaries,  our  medical  and  law  schools. 


m  ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

which  receive  the  graduates  of  our  colleges  and  fit  them  for  their  respective  profes- 
sions and  whenever  the  profession  of  teaching  shall  be  duly  honored  and  appreciated, 
it  is  not  doubted  but  that  it  will  receive  similar  attention  and  be  favored  with  equal 
advantages."  Later  in  the  same  year,  in  his  inaugural  address  as  President  of  the 
University  of  Nashville,  Lindsey  emphasized  the  same  point.  John  Maclean,  another 
Princeton  professor,  subsequently  president,  recommended  in  18S8"  the  establishment 
(by  the  state)  of  an  institution  to  educate  young  men  for  the  business  of  teaching." 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION 

These  isolated  instances  indicate  the  tendencies  of  the  day,  but  the  popularization 
of  the  idea  of  preparing  teachers  was  not  due  to  these  writers.  The  earliest  contribu- 
tion to  the  subject  which  attracted  general  attention  was  Thomas  H.  Gallaudet's 
Plan  of  a  Seminary  for  the  Education  and  Instruction  of  Youtli^  which  appeared  in 
the  Connecticut  Observer  in  18&5.  "Why  not  have  an  institution,"  asks  Gallaudet, 
"  for  the  training  up  of  instructors  for  their  sphere  of  labor,  as  well  as  institutions 
to  prepare  young  men  for  the  duties  of  the  divine,  the  lawyer  or  the  physician?  .  .  . 
Such  an  institution  would  also  tend  to  elevate  the  tone  of  public  sentiment  and  to 
quicken  the  zeal  of  public  effort  with  regard  to  the  correct  intellectual  and  moral 
education  of  the  rising  generation."  The  curriculum  of  this  institution  should  include 
the  common  branches  of  English  education  and  the  theory  and  practice  of  education. 
A  library  and  practice  school  should  be  connected  with  the  seminary.  Connecticut's 
debt  to  Gallaudet  was  later  recognized  when  the  students  of  the  first  normal  school 
established  in  the  state,  at  New  Britain  in  1850,  formed  a  Gallaudet  Society, 

In  18S4-&5  James  G.  Carter,  the  "father  of  normal  schools,"  entered  upon  the  task 
of  urging  the  establishment  of  normal  schools1  in  Massachusetts,  and  did  not  lay  it 
down  until  the  first  state  normal  school  in  this  country  was  opened  at  Lexington  in 
1839.  His  Essays  on  Popular  Education,  which  appeared  in  the  Boston  Patriot  ^  at- 
tracted considerable  attention  not  only  in  this  country  but  also  abroad.  He  argued 
that  it  was  uneconomical  to  expend  money  on  education  until  satisfactory  and  well- 
qualified  teachers  could  be  secured.  The  mere  possession  of  knowledge  was  no  guar- 
antee of  ability  to  communicate  it.  "When  instructors  understand  their  profession, 
that  is,  in  a  word,  when  they  understand  the  philosophy  of  the  infant  mind,  what 
powers  are  earliest  developed  and  what  studies  are  best  adapted  to  their  development, 
then  it  will  be  time  to  lay  out  and  subdivide  their  work  into  an  energetic  system 
of  public  instruction.55  The  institution  for  the  training  of  teachers  should  be  main- 
tained by  the  state  as  part  of  the  free  school  system,  and  should  include  a  library  and 
a  school  for  children  of  different  ages.  It  is  significant  that  Carter  does  not  yet  refer 
to  foreign  examples,  but  puts  his  scheme  forward  as  something  new  and  visionary.  In 
18S7  he  petitioned  the  Massachusetts  legislature  to  appropriate  money  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  state  institution  for  the  training  of  teachers.  On  the  refusal  of  the  legisla- 
ture he  opened  a  private  seminary  at  Lancaster  in  1827,  but  met  with  little  success. 


NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  525 

EXAMPLE  OF  GERMANY 

New  influences,  however,  began  to  make  themselves  felt  about  1830.  The  theorists 
discovered  that  everything  that  had  been  urged  in  favor  of  the  preparation  of  teach- 
ers had  already  been  put  into  successful  practice  in  Prussia  and  elsewhere.  Henry  E. 
Dwight  in  his  Travels  in  the  North  of  Germany  in  1825~1S%6,  which  appeared  in  1829., 
devotes  one  of  his  letters  to  an  account  of  seminaries  for  the  Education  of  School- 
masters. He  points  out  that  "to  understand  a  subject  will  not  of  itself  enable  one 
to  impart  a  clear  view  of  the  best  mode  of  communicating  knowledge  to  the  minds 
of  children.  This  capacity  can  only  be  acquired  by  previous  preparation  or  by  long 
experience."  He  had  great  hopes  of  the  results  of  such  seminaries.  "Were  such  school- 
masters provided  for  the  education  of  youth  in  Connecticut,  the  intellectual  charac- 
ter of  the  mass  of  inhabitants  would,  in  one  generation,  not  only  become  superior 
to  that  of  every  other  people,  but  it  would  become  the  wonder  and  admiration  of 
our  country." 

EFFORTS  OF  EDUCATIONAL  LEADERS 

After  1830  the  work  of  propaganda  was  definitely  taken  up  in  professional  circles, 
and  the  efforts  continued  unremittingly  until  they  were  crowned  with  success  about 
ten  years  later.  In  1831  William  C.  Woodbridge  began  to  urge  the  importance  of 
training  teachers  in  his  Annals  of  Education,  and  in  June  of  that  year  gave  an  account 
of  the  Prussian  system.  To  the  Rev.  Charles  Brooks  is  due  the  chief  credit  for  the 
popularization  and  the  ultimate  acceptance  in  Massachusetts  of  the  idea  of  teacher- 
training.  His  attention  was  directed  to  the  subject  during  a  visit  to  Europe  in  1834* 
and  by  prolonged  discussion  on  his  return  voyage  with  Dr.  EL  Julius,  who  was  sent 
to  this  country  by  the  Prussian  government  to  investigate  prison  conditions.  In  a 
Thanksgiving  address  delivered  at  Hingham  in  1835  he  advocated  the  establishment 
of  teachers'  seminaries  and  proposed  a  series  of  conventions  to  be  held  in  Plymouth 
County  to  promote  the  idea.  The  first  convention  was  held  in  December,  1836,  and 
was  followed  by  five  others.  Untiring  in  his  efforts,  Brooks  addressed  meetings  in 
various  important  centres  in  Massachusetts  in  1836  and  1837,  and  extended  his  en- 
deavors to  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  and 
Pennsylvania.  Everywhere  he  took  as  his  theme  the  statement,  "As  is  the  Teacher 
so  is  the  School,"  and  drew  his  illustrations  and  examples  from  Prussia  and  Holland. 
The  influence  of  Dr.  Julius  has  already  been  mentioned;  an  outline  of  the  Prussian 
system  by  him  was  printed  in  1835  with  legislative  documents  in  Massachusetts  and 
New  York.  To  this  was  added  the  inspiration  that  Brooks  derived  from  M.  Cousin's 
Report  on  Public  Instruction  in  Germany.  The  translation  of  this  work  by  Sarah  Aus- 
tin, with  an  introduction  by  J.  Orville  Taylor,  was  published  in  New  York  in  1835, 
and  in  the  same  year  a  paper,  printed  in  1836  and  based  on  Cousin's  Report,  was  read 
before  the  American  Institute  of  Instruction.  Further  information  on  the  Prussian 
educational  system  was  furnished  in  the  widely  distributed  reports  of  Calvin  E.  Stowe 


£6          ^       ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

(Elementary  Education  in  Europe,  1837)  and  of  Alexander  D.  Bache  (Report  on  Edu- 
cation in  Europe ',  1839). 

THE  TERM  "NORMAL  SCHOOL" 

It  was  at  this  period  that  the  term  "normal  school"  began  to  replace  "teachers' 
seminaries."  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  was  due  directly  to  Cousin's  Report  on 
Germany  and  the  subsequent  Report  on  Public  Instruction  in  Holland.  Cousin  merely 
applied  the  current  French  term  to  the  corresponding  institutions  in  the  countries 
visited  by  him.  The  French  system  of  training  teachers  had  hardly  begun  to  have  a 
national  status  when  Cousin  made-  his  report.  The  Convention  had,  on  October  30, 
1794,  decreed  the  creation  in  Paris  of  an  Nicole  Normale  in  which  citizens  of  the  Re- 
public over  the  age  of  twenty-one  and  already  instructed  in  the  useful  sciences  should 
be  taught  how  to  teach  and  then  go  back  to  their  own  districts  and  in  turn  train  other 
teachers.  It  was  intended  that  the  course  should  last  four  months,  but  the  experiment, 
with  which  were  associated  such  men  as  Legrange,  Laplace,  Monge,  Hauy,  and  Ber- 
nardin  de  St.  Pierre,  failed.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  Committee  of  Public 
Instruction  adopted  this  idea  from  the  plan  successfully  employed  by  the  Commit- 
tee of  Public  Safety  to  train  citizens  drawn  to  Paris  from  all  parts  of  the  country, 
in  the  processes  for  manufacturing  gunpowder  and  cannon.  In  a  note  to  his  Lecture 
on  Normal  Schools  and  Teachers*  Seminaries  Stowe  wrote,  "The  French  adjective  nor- 
mal is  derived  from  the  Latin  noun  norma,  which  signifies  a  carpenter's  square^  a  ride, 
a  pattern,  a  model;  and  the  very  general  use  of  this  term  to  designate  institutions  for 
the  preparation  of  teachers,  leads  us  at  once  to  the  idea  of  a  model  school  for  practice, 
an  essential  constituent  part  of  a  Teachers*  Seminary"  The  term  ecole  normale  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  employed  earlier  than  1794.  The  successful  establishment 
of  a  state  system  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  in  1832  was  due  to  the  success  of  the 
normal  primary  school  founded  in  Strasbourg  in  1810  and  planned  on  the  German 
model. 

Beyond  contributing  the  title,  the  French  system  does  not  appear  to  have  exercised 
any  influence  on  the  development  of  normal  schools.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
promotion  of  the  idea  of  training  teachers  was  directly  influenced  by  the  Prussian 
example.  Brooks  himself  had  no  hesitation  in  recognizing  this  influence.  In  a  lec- 
ture on  the  History  of  the  Missionary  Agency,  in  Massachusetts,  of  the  State  Normal 
Schools  in  Prussia,  delivered  in  1864  at  the  Quarter-Centennial  Normal  School  cele- 
bration of  Framingham,  he  stated,  "I  must  say,  that  to  the  Prussian  system  of  state 
normal  schools  belongs  the  distinctive  glory  of  this  day."  He  was  conscious,  however, 
of  the  political  limitations  of  the  Prussian  system;  "though  I  preferred  the  Holland 
system  of  governmental  supervision,  I  concluded  to  take  the  Prussian  system  of  state 
normal  schools  as  my  model  and  guide."  The  adoption  of  the  Prussian  model  was 
evidently  not  undertaken  blindly;  the  essential  social  and  political  differences  between 
the  two  countries  were  clearly  recognized  and  debated.  "There  were  a  few  papers  that 


NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  £7 

laughed  at  me,"  said  Brooks,  "as  a  dreamer  wishing  to  fill  a  republican  state  with 
monarchical  institutions." 

TEACH  KII-TBAINING-  IN  GERMANY 

Experiments  in  the  training  of  teachers  had  been  under  way  in  Germany  for  more 
than  a  century  before  the  attention  of  American  students  was  directed  to  them. 
Duke  Ernest  of  Gotha  had  contemplated  the  establishment  of  special  courses  for  pre- 
paring teachers  in  1654,  but  an  exhausted  treasury  led  to  a  postponement  of  the 
scheme  until  1698.  In  1696  Francke  had  instituted  at  Halle  a  Seminariwn  praecep- 
torum  to  furnish  teachers  both  for  his  orphanage  and  higher  schools.  His  example 
inspired  several  of  his  disciples,  especially  Johann  Julius  Hecker,  who  opened  an  in- 
stitution for  the  preparation  of  teachers  in  Berlin  in  1748;  here  provision  was.  made 
for  the  study  of  a  large  number  of  academic  subjects.,  pedagogy,  and  method,  and  for 
practice  teaching.  A  royal  grant  was  made  to  Hecker's  schools  in  1753,  and  an  order 
was  issued  by  Frederick  the  Great  that  all  vacancies  in.  schools  on  royal  domains 
and  later  throughout  Prussia  should  be  filled  with  teachers  trained  under  Hecker. 
Unfortunately  Frederick's  practice  of  filling  school  positions  with  veterans  from  his 
armies  defeated  his  own  purposes,  and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  saw 
the  Prussian  elementary  schools  in  decline. 

From  this  condition  the  schools  were  saved  by  the  rapid  and  extensive  establish- 
ment of  normal  schools  under  the  direct  influence  of  educators  who  had  visited  Pes- 
talozzi.  In  1803  J.  E.  Plarnann,  who  had  been  a  student  at  Burgdorf,  established 
a  normal  school  in  Berlin  which  received  royal  recognition  two  years  later.  At  this 
time  the  government  sent  a  few  students  to  Yverdun;  on  their  return  these  men 
established  institutions  for  the  training  of  teachers  or  became  inspectors  of  schools. 
Since  the  government  did  little  to  codify  the  school  regulations  or  to  organize  the 
curriculum  of  the  schools,  the  great  progress  in  elementary  education  that  was  noticed 
by  American  observers  was  due  almost  wholly  to  the  rapid  increase  in  the  number  of 
trained  teachers  consequent  on  the  multiplication  of  normal  schools.  In  1806  there  had 
been  eleven  such  institutions,  to  which  fourwere  added  in  1811  and  181S;  in  18£5  there 
were  twenty-eight  and  in  1840  thirty-eight.  They  offered  a  three-year  course,  and 
under  the  influence  of  Harnisch  at  Weissenfels  and  Diesterweg  at  Mors  had  become 
powerful  instruments  in  raising  both  the  intellectual  and  professional  status  of  teach- 
ers. Ludwig  Beckedorff  was  especially  influential  in  promoting  the  welfare  of  the  nor- 
mal schools.  From  18£1  to  1827  he  was  councillor  in  the  Ministry  for  Public  Wor- 
ship, Education,  and  Public  Health,  with  special  charge  of  normal  schools  and  ele- 
mentary education.  He  gave  particular  attention  to  the  former  in  the  belief  that  the 
standards  of  elementary  education  could  be  more  effectually  raised  thru  the  improve- 
ment of  teachers  than  by  relying  on  the  amateur  efforts  of  the  provincial  and  local  ad- 
ministrative machinery.  In  1836  the  professional  status  of  elementary  school  teachers 
was  clearly  defined  by  the  issue  of  regulations  for  the  examinations  of  candidates  at 


28  ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

the  close  of  their  normal  school  training  and  again  after  not  more  than  three  years 
of  probationary  service.  The  existence  of  such  conditions  was  bound  to  strike  the 
foreign  observer ;  and  it  was  the  report  of  these  conditions  that  profoundly  affected 
the  movement  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  in  the  United  States. 

LEGISLATIVE  ACTIVITY  IN  MASSACHUSETTS 

The  establishment  of  state  normal  schools  became  a  practical  issue  soon  after 
Carter's  election  to  the  legislature  in  1885.  He  had  the  full  support  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Instruction,  which  he  had  helped  to  found  in  1830  and  before  which 
he  had  lectured  in  1881  on  "the  necessary  and  most  practicable  means  of  raising  the 
qualifications  of  teachers."  In  1836,  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Education,  he 
advocated  the  establishment  of  a  seminary  for  the  professional  education  of  teachers, 
and  in  the  following  year  he  drafted  the  bill  establishing  the  first  Board  of  Educa- 
tion in  Massachusetts.  On  its  creation  he  became  one  of  its  first  members.  In  January, 
1837,  the  Institute  presented  a  memorial  to  the  legislature  praying  "that  provision 
may  be  made  for  the  better  preparation  of  the  teachers  of  the  schools  of  the  Common- 
wealth." This  followed  an  earlier  resolution  at  a  meeting  held  in  Boston  at  which  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  the  business  of  teaching  should  be  performed  by  those  who  have 
studied  the  subject  as  a  profession.  Therefore,  Resolved,  That  there  ought  to  be  at 
least  one  seminary  in  each  state,  devoted  entirely  to  the  education  of  teachers; 
and  that  this  seminary  should  be  authorized  to  confer  appropriate  degrees." 

In  the  same  year  Brooks  lectured  on  the  subject  of  teacher-training  before  the 
House  of  Representatives.  In  the  following  year  the  Board  of  Education,  stimulated 
by  the  promise  of  a  gift  of  $10,000  conditional  on  the  appropriation  of  an  equal  sum 
by  the  legislature  for  the  purpose  of  improving  the  qualifications  of  teachers,  passed 
resolutions  "  accepting  the  proposition  and  authorizing  the  Governor,  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Council,  to  draw  his  warrant  upon  the  treasurer  for  the  sum  of 
ten  thousand  dollars,  to  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Board  for  the  purpose 
specified  in  the  original  communication."  In  these  resolutions,  as  well  as  in  securing 
the  gift  from  his  friend  Edmund  Dwight,  Horace  Mann  played  an  important  part. 
He  had  in  the  same  year  delivered  before  the  Plymouth  County  Association  for  the 
Improvement  of  Common  Schools  a  lecture  on  Special  Preparation,  a  Prerequisite  to 
Teaching,  and,  as  he  indicated  in  the  following  year,  he  had  definite  views  on  the 
superiority  of  a  specifically  professional  institution  over  the  academy  plan  of  New 
York.  The  cumulative  efforts  of  the  educational  stalwarts  of  the  period,  Carter, 
Brooks,  Woodbridge,  and  Mann,  culminated  in  the  opening  of  the  first  public  normal 
school  in  the  country  at  Lexington  on  July  3, 1839,  followed  two  months  later  by 
the  opening  of  a  second  normal  school  at  Barre  on  September  4,  1839,  and  of  the 
third  at  Bridgewater  a  year  later,  on  September  9, 1840.  In  1845  it  was  resolved  by 
the  Board  of  Education  "that  the  schools  heretofore  known  as  Normal  Schools  shall 
be  hereafter  designated  as  State  Normal  Schools." 


NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  29 

The  length  of  the  course  In  these  normal  schools  was  one  year.  Boys  were  admitted 
at  the  age  of  seventeen  and  girls  at  sixteen  after  declaring  their  Intention  to  qualify 
themselves  to  become  school  teachers,  and  after  passing  an  examination  in  orthogra- 
phy, reading,  writing,  English  grammar,  geography,  and  arithmetic.  The  course  of 
study  included  "orthography,  reading,  grammar,  composition,  rhetoric  and  logic; 
"writing  and  drawing;  arithmetic,  mental  and  written,  algebra,  geometry,  bookkeep- 
ing, navigation,  surveying ;  geography,  ancient  and  modern,  with  chronology,  statis- 
tics, and  general  history;  human  physiology,  and  hygiene  or  the  laws  of  health;  men- 
tal philosophy;  music 5  constitution  and  history  of  Massachusetts  and  of  the  United 
States;  natural  philosophy;  the  principles  of  piety  and  morality  common  to  all  sects 
of  Christians ;  the  science  and  art  of  teaching  with  reference  to  all  the  above  named 
subjects."  Attached  to  each  normal  school  was  an  experimental  or  model  school  in 
which  the  students  practised  under  the  supervision  of  the  principal  and  the  obser- 
vation and  criticisms  of  their  fellow  students;  "here  the  knowledge  which  they  ac- 
quire in  the  science  of  teaching  is  practically  applied.  The  art  is  made  to  grow  out 
of  the  science,  instead  of  being  empirical."  Thus  were  laid  down  the  main  lines  of 
the  American  normal  school. 

NORMAL  SCHOOL  DEVELOPMENT  IN  CONNECTICUT 

In  Connecticut  the  movement  for  the  training  of  teachers  became  active  in  1838 
after  the  passage  in  that  year  of  the  act  to  provide  for  the  better  supervision  of 
common  schools.  Henry  Barnard,  as  chairman  of  the  committee  that  reported  this 
act,  urged  the  importance  of  the  problem  of  teacher  preparation  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  in  1839  the  Connecticut  Common  School  Journal  published  a 
number  of  articles  discussing  this  subject  and  giving  a  history  of  normal  schools  in 
Prussia,  Holland,  and  France.  This  was  followed  in  the  next  four  years  by  the  re- 
publication  of  the  works  of  Gallaudet,  Stowe,  and  Bache.  In  the  First  Annual  Report 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Common  Schools.,  Henry  Barnard 
urged  the  establishment  "of  at  least  one  seminary  for  teachers."  Barnard  was  even 
ready  to  accept  a  compromise  temporarily  by  the  setting  up  of  teachers'  depart- 
ments in  academies,  altho  he  was  himself  convinced  that  the  normal  school  was  the 
institution  ultimately  desirable.  In  1839  he  inaugurated  a  voluntary  course  for  teach- 
ers at  Hartford,  in  which  a  number  of  specialists  lectured  on  academic  subjects  and 
methods  of  teaching,  and  Barnard  on  the  relations  of  the  teacher  to  the  school  sys- 
tem, parents,  and  pupils,  on  school  hygiene,  teachers'  associations,  and  methods  of 
interesting  parents.  Barnard  continued  his  campaign,  and  in  his  Third  Annual  Report 
declared  that  "the  most  effectual  way  of  improving  the  qualifications  of  teachers,  of 
creating  in  them,  and  in  the  community,  a  proper  estimate  of  the  true  dignity  and  use- 
fulness of  the  office,  of  carrying  out  into  practice  the  soundest  views  of  education,  is 
to  establish  at  least  one  institution  for  their  specific  training."  Some  of  the  objections 
that  were  raised  and  met  by  Barnard  were  that  teachers  could  be  trained  in  colleges, 


80  ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

academies,  and  private  schools,  that  special  training  is  wasteful  owing  to  the  brief 
professional  career  of  teachers,  that  special  normal  schools  cannot  turn  out  sufficient 
teachers  nor  districts  pay  sufficiently  high  salaries  to  encourage  training,  that  the 
expense  would  be  great,  and,  finally,  that  the  normal  school  was  objectionable  as  a 
foreign  importation.  A  committee  of  eight  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly 
reported  in  favor  of  normal  schools  in  1845,  and  three  years  later  another  commit- 
tee, after  visiting  normal  schools  in  Massachusetts  and  academies  in  New  York,  made 
a  report  similar  to  that  of  the  earlier  committee.  In  1850  the  movement  culminated 
in  the  establishment  of  the  first  normal  school  at  New  Britain. 

THE  NEW  YOBK  PRACTICE 

The  development  of  teacher- training  in  New  York  State  differed  from  that  in 
New  England.  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton  urged  the  establishment  of  a  seminary 
for  teachers  in  his  message  to  the  legislature  in  18£6,  but  John  C.  Spencer,  chair- 
man of  the  literature  committee,  insisted  that  the  training  of  teachers  should  be 
entrusted  to  the  colleges  and  academies.  In  18&7  an  act  was  passed  "to  provide 
permanent  funds  for  the  annual  appropriation  to  common  schools,  to  increase  the 
literature  fund,  and  to  promote  the  education  of  teachers."  Altho  no  provision  was 
made  immediately  for  the  third  purpose,  this  is  the  first  act  in  the  country  for  the 
education  of  teachers.  A  few  training  departments  in  academies  were  reported  in 
1831.  A  definite  step  was  taken  in  1834,  when  it  was  provided  that  "the  trustees 
of  academies  to  which  any  distribution  of  money  shall  be  made  by  virtue  of  this  act 
shall  cause  the  same  to  be  expended  in  educating  teachers  of  common  schools  in 
such  manner  and  under  such  regulations  as  said  Regents  shall  prescribe."  Owing  to 
inadequate  funds,  only  eight  academies  were  recognized  for  the  purpose,  and  eight 
others  were  added  in  1838.  Besides  academic  subjects,  teachers  in  training  were  re- 
quired to  study  moral  and  intellectual  philosophy  and  principles  of  teaching.  In  1840 
the  Rev.  Alonzo  Potter  of  Union  College  was  commissioned  by  the  state  superintend- 
ent to  visit  and  report  on  the  work  of  the  academies.  He  found  that  the  teachers  in 
training  were  more  interested  in  the  academic  than  the  professional  studies;  they 
did  not  stay  for  the  full  length  of  the  course,  three  years;  and  no  practice  teaching 
was  provided,  altho  this  deficiency  was  not  of  importance  since  most  of  the  students 
had  already  taught.  He  advocated  a  course  of  eighteen  months  to  two  years,  with 
differentiation  for  teachers  in  rural  schools  and  primary  schools  in  villages  and  cities, 
and  commended  the  special  normal  schools  of  Prussia  and  France.  Such  schools,  he 
declared,  "devoted  exclusively  to  the  preparation  of  teachers  have  some  advantage 
over  any  other  method."  Horace  Mannas  view  on  the  subject  has  already  been  men- 
tioned. Spencer,  however,  continued  his  opposition,  and  eight  more  academies  were 
recognized  as  training  centres.  Colonel  Samuel  Young,  his  successor,  was  of  the  opinion 
in  1843  that  the  money  was  diffused  over  too  many  schools,  and  in  the  following 
year,  under  the  influence  probably  of  a  report  on  the  Massachusetts  normal  schools 


NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  31 

by  the  Chairman  of  the  Assembly  Committee  on  Colleges,  Academies,  and  Common 
Schools,,  a  bill  was  passed  establishing  the  State  Normal  School  at  Albany,  and  lead- 
ing to  the  discontinuance  of  training  in  the  academies.  No  further  progress  was  made 
with  the  establishment  of  state  institutions  until  the  appropriation  of  a  state  grant 
to  the  Oswego  Normal  School  in  186$  and  the  final  adoption  of  the  school  as  a  state 
institution  four  years  later. 

NORMAL  SCHOOL  OR  ACADEMY  ? 

The  divergent  practice  in  the  early  training  of  teachers  in  New  York  State  and 
New  England  led  to  interesting  discussions  of  the  problem  wherever  the  question 
came  up.  In  Michigan  John  D.  Pierce,  in  his  First  Annual  Report  as  superintendent 
in  1836,  advocated  the  training  of  teachers  at  institutions  organized  upon  either  the 
Prussian  or  New  York  models.  In  1843,  however.  Superintendent  Ira  May  hew  stated 
in  his  Report,  "Normal  schools,  designed  expressly  for  the  education  of  professional 
teachers,  are  indispensable  to  the  perfection  of  any  system  of  national  education.'"1 
A  normal  school  act  was  passed  in  1849,  and  in  1853  the  Ypsilanti  school  was  opened. 
In  I86&  the  academy  system  which  had  been  established  in  Maine  in  1846  was 
declared  to  be  a  failure,  and  two  normal  schools  were  then  established  "to  be  thor- 
oughly devoted  to  the  work  of  training  teachers  for  their  professional  labors."  The 
State  Superintendent,  the  Rev.  Edward  Ballard,  declared  that  "the  opinion  has  been 
but  too  prevalent  that  a  high  school  or  academy  can  qualify  teachers  as  well  for 
their  work  as  the  institutions  especially  established  for  this  purpose. .  . .  But  it  must 
be  a  fallacious  supposition  to  consider,  that  the  discipline  in  either  of  these  cases  can 
be  equal  to  the  regular,  systematic  and  thorough  drill  of  the  full  proposed  normal 
course."  The  same  problem  came  up  in  Wisconsin,  when  in  1857  the  legislature 
appropriated  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  income  from  swamp  lands  for  normal  schools. 
Instead  of  establishing  normal  schools,  the  Board  of  Regents  decided  to  distribute 
the  money  to  colleges  and  academies  maintaining  normal  classes,  which  were  organ- 
ized by  Henry  Barnard,  who  became  agent  of  the  Normal  Regents  in  1858.  The 
experiment  was  not  successful,  for  in  1868  Superintendent  J.  L.  Pickard  wrote  in  his 
Report •,  "These  normal  departments  of  colleges,  academies,  and  high  schools  have 
not  satisfactorily  met  the  necessity. They  are  almost  always  subordinate  departments; 
nor  will  the  aid  furnished  warrant  giving  them  a  prominent  place.  Much  good  has 
been  accomplished  by  these  agencies,  but  they  are  at  present  inadequate  to  the  de- 
mand. Permanent  normal  schools  are  needed,  whose  sole  business  shall  be  the  train- 
ing of  teachers."  A  normal  department  was  opened  in  the  University  in  1863,  fol- 
lowed by  three  normal  schools  in  1866.  In  his  report  for  that  year  the  Superintendent, 
John  Gr.  McMynn,  made  a  statement  on  the  subject  which  deserves  the  consideration 
of  all  who  are  interested  in  the  professional  training  of  teachers : 

"The  development  of  our  Normal  School  system  is  the  most  difficult  educa- 
tional problem  that  presents  itself  for  solution  at  the  present  time.  To  make 


32  ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

these  schools  promote  the  interests  of  public  education,  to  so  conduct  them  as 
to  secure  for  them  the  confidence  of  the  people,  to  so  manage  them  as  to  train 
teachers  in  them  for  the  common  schools,  to  guard  against  the  tendency  to 
convert  them  into  academies  or  high  schools,  to  render  them  so  attractive  and 
so  efficient  as  to  bring  large  numbers  of  teachers  under  their  influence,  and  to 
carry  them  on  with  such  economy  as  to  keep  their  expenses  within  the  income 
provided  for  their  support,  will  demand  the  watchful  care  of  the  people,  the 
heartiest  cooperation  of  the  Legislature,  and  the  greatest  discretion  and  wisdom 
of  the  Board  appointed  to  manage  them. 

"They  may  be  well  attended,  the  discipline  may  be  excellent  and  their  teach- 
ers well  qualified;  classes  may  graduate  with  honor,  and  the  people  may  cherish  a 
just  pride  in  the  attainments  of  those  who  have  pursued  their  course  of  study; 
in  fact  they  may  be  excellent  colleges,  but  if  they  are  not  training  schools  for 
teachers,  and  if  everything  else  be  not  kept  subordinate  to  the  specific  object  for 
which  they  were  founded,  the  result  will  be  disastrous,  not  only  to  these  schools, 
but  to  our  whole  educational  system.  The  success  of  Normal  Schools  in  other 
states — while  it  has  been  such  as  to  warrant  a  hope  that  the  policy  we  have 
inaugurated  may  be  successfully  carried  out — has  not  been  so  marked  and  so 
uniform  as  to  assure  us  that  we  shall  not  encounter  difficulties  that  prudence, 
forecast  and  energy  alone  will  enable  us  to  overcome." 

By  1870  the  question  had  been  virtually  settled  everywhere  in  favor  of  normal 
schools.  The  list  presented  in  the  Appendix1  gives  the  date  of  the  first  establishment 
of  state  normal  schools  throughout  the  country.  In  some  states  the  schools  had  been 
preceded  by  training  departments  in  colleges,  academies,  and  high  schools;  in  others, 
particularly  in  the  south,  by  teachers'  institutes. 

THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  IN  1866 

There  was  at  this  time  no  consensus  of  opinion  or  practice  on  the  length  of  a  nor- 
mal school  course,  which  varied  from  one  to  three  years.  There  was,  however,  consid- 
erable agreement  on  the  content  of  the  curriculum.  The  course  of  study  adopted  in 
Massachusetts  in  1866  covered  a  period  of  two  years,  and  included  arithmetic,  alge- 
bra, geometry,  chemistry,  grammar  and  analysis  of  the  English  language,  rhetoric 
and  English  literature,  geography  and  history,  physiology  and  hygiene,  botany  and 
zoology,  natural  philosophy,  mineralogy  and  geology,  astronomy,  mental  and  moral 
science,  the  civil  polity  of  Massachusetts  and  the  United  States,  The  theory  and  art 
of  teaching  included  principles  and  methods  of  instruction,  school  organization  and 
government,  and  the  school  laws  of  Massachusetts.  The  variations  that  occurred  else- 
where were  due  to  the  influence  of  Oswegoq  at  Ypsilanti  the  course  of  study  introduced 
in  1863  included,  besides  the  elementary  subjects,  object  lessons  in  geography,  com- 
mon things,  colors,  geometrical  figures,  botany,  zoology  and  properties  of  bodies,  and 
drawing.  At  Winona,  Minnesota,  the  "best  methods  of  teaching  *  went  side  by  side 
with  the  academic  study  of  subject-matter,  while  the  theory  and  practice  of  teach- 
ing included  "intellectual  and  moral  philosophy ;  lectures  on  the  principles  of  edu- 

1  See  page  418. 


NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  33 

cation ;  history  of  education ;  didactic  exercises  or  sublectures ;  observation  in  model 
school;  preparation  of  sketches;  criticism  lessons  in  teaching;  teaching  in  practice 
school;  and  school  laws  of  Minnesota."  Thus  the  main  lines  that  were  to  mark  the 
future  development  of  the  normal  school  were  already  laid  down  when  the  Missouri 
system  was  inaugurated.  Some,  at  least,  of  the  problems  that  were  later  to  disturb  the 
even  development  of  the  normal  schools  appear  to  have  come  to  the  surface.  In  Mas- 
sachusetts, for  instance,  "the  Board  [in  1866]  deem  it  unwise  to  encourage  the  for- 
mation of  regular  advanced  classes,  whose  instruction  cannot  fail  to  divert  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  the  time  and  attention  of  the  teachers  from  the  undergraduate 
course."  In  general  the  defects  of  the  day  were  not  unlike  those  found  at  a  later  date. 
The  students  suffered  from  inadequate  preparation  and  fitness;  they  did  not  remain 
long  enough  to  profit  by  the  course;  the  faculties  were  too  small;  and  on  the  whole 
the  normal  schools  attempted  to  do  too  much  for  pupils  of  every  type. 

EARLY  VIEW  OF  THE  FUNCTION  OF  A  NOEMAL  SCHOOL 

It  is  not  out  of  place  to  present  by  way  of  summary  a  contemporary  view  of  the 
function  of  the  normal  school,  given  in  a  special  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Com- 
mon Schools  in  Ohio  presented  to  the  General  Assembly  in  1866: 

66  The  course  of  instruction  in  most  of  the  Normal  Schools  of  this  country  is 
two  years,  with  a  one  year's  course  in  a  few  of  them,  for  teachers  of  primary 
schools.  While  the  one  single  object  is  to  increase  the  teaching  power  of  the 
student,  the  exercises  have  practically  a  four-fold  aim: — 

"l.To  impart  to  the  student  a  thorough  teaching  knowledge  of  all  the 
branches  ordinarily  taught  in  common  schools.  This  includes  not  only  a  mas- 
tery of  the  subjects  as  knowledge,  which  is  the  first  requisite  for  successful  teach- 
ing, but  also  a  mastery  of  them  as  subjects  to  be  taught  to  others.  This  is  the  one 
distinctive  idea  which  runs  through  every  lesson  and  exercise. 

"$.  To  impart  to  the  prospective  teacher  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  guiding 
principles  of  his  art,  and  to  enable  him  to  reduce  such  principles  to  something 
like  a  philosophical  system.  In  other  words,  the  second  aim  is  to  teach  the  science 
of  education.  This  is  usually  sought  to  be  accomplished  by  lectures. 

"3.  To  impart  to  the  teacher  a  knowledge  of  the  best  methods  of  instruc- 
tion and  government,  including  the  methods  specially  applicable  to  each  stage 
of  the  child's  progress  and  to  each  branch  of  knowledge.  This  part  of  the  course 
is  sometimes  united  with  the  first,  each  recitation  being  conducted  with  a  view 
of  unfolding  the  true  method  of  teaching  the  topic.  But  in  all  Normal  Schools 
where  instruction  in  methods  of  teaching  is  made  duly  prominent,  separate  ex- 
ercises are  also  devoted  to  the  subject. 

"4.  To  impart  to  the  student  skill  in  the  art  of  teaching  by  an  application 
of  his  knowledge  of  principles  and  methods  in  actual  practice.  For  this  pur- 
pose most  Normal  Schools  have  a  Model  or  Experimental  Department,  in  which 
the  students  practice  utider  the  supervision  and  criticism  of  a  skilled  teacher.  In 
the  best  Training  Schools  these  model-lessons,  as  they  are  called,  are  made  the 
basis  of  instruction  in  methods.  In  some  Normal  Schools  the  practice  of  the  stu- 
dents is  obtained  by  giving  model  lessons  to  their  own  classes/' 


34  ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

B.  NOKMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  MISSOURI 

For  the  preparation  of  teachers  in  the  public  schools  of  Missouri  the  state  has  devel- 
oped, in  addition  to  the  university,  six  institutions  supported,  except  for  certain  fees, 
wholly  by  legislative  appropriation.  Five  bear  the  numbers  of  the  districts  that  they 
serve,  and  are  usually  referred  to  by  the  name  of  the  city  in  which  they  are  located. 
In  the  order  of  their  establishment  as  state  schools  they  are:  Kirksville  and  War- 
rensburg,  1870;  Cape  Girardeau,  1873;  Springfield  and  Maryville,  1906.  The  sixth, 
Lincoln  Institute,  is  a  school  for  colored  teachers  located  at  the  capital,  Jefferson 
City.  As  its  problems  and  conditions  differ  considerably  from  those  in  the  other 
schools,  it  is  not  included  in  the  main  discussion.1 

EAKLY  EFFORTS 

Massachusetts  was  scarcely  more  than  committed  to  its  new  institution  for  train- 
ing teachers  (1839)  when  the  obvious  value  of  the  plan  was  recognized  and  similar 
schools  were  advocated  by  educational  officers  in  many  states.  In  Missouri,  except  for 
the  war's  interruption,  there  was  a  persistent  and  steadily  widening  campaign  from 
184S  until  the  school  at  Kirksville  was  established  in  1870.  State  superintendents,  and 
secretaries  of  state  who  served  ex  officio  at  times  in  their  stead,  urged  the  usual  argu- 
ments in  annual  reports,  and  one  governor  (1 844-48)  came  forward  with  an  elaborate 
plan  for  a  combined  industrial  and  pedagogical  school.  "  Home  teachers  for  home 
schools"  as  against  inferior  "foreign  or  imported  teachers"  was  a  popular  cry  in  a  state 
where  one- fourth  of  the  districts  had  no  teachers,  and  three-fourths  of  those  that  had 
teachers  secured  them  from  outside  the  state.2  As  to  the  precise  nature  of  the  desired 
institution,  proposals  varied  from  a  normal  department  in  the  university  to  a  scheme 
for  an  independent  school  in  each  congressional  district — eight  in  all;  but  the  only 
early  legislation  on  the  subject  was  an  act  of  1849  establishing  a  professorship  of  the- 
ory and  practice  of  teaching  in  the  state  university,  and  a  system  of  two-year  scholar- 
ships for  each  county — all  to  be  financed  with  an  annual  appropriation  of  $1000. 
The  university  took  no  action.  In  1856  the  Missouri  State  Teachers  Association  at 
its  first  session  passed  resolutions  in  support  of  normal  schools,  possibly  inspired 
thereto  by  Horace  Mann,  who  attended  the  meetings.  This  movement  had  local  effect 
the  following  year  in  the  establishment  of  the  St.  Louis  City  Normal  School,  later 
known  as  the  Harris  Teachers  College.  But  the  war  halted  the  efforts  for  state  schools 
until,  at  its  meeting  ten  years  later  (1866),  the  reorganized  teachers  association  took 
up  the  subject  again  in  an  emphatic  memorial  to  the  General  Assembly. 

JOSEPH  BALDWIN 

The  prospect  was  not  unfavorable,  therefore,  when,  in  1867,  Joseph  Baldwin  came 
from  Indiana  to  open  his  normal  school  at  Kirksville.  Altho  a  private  venture,  it 

1  See  page  385. 

2  House  Journal,  1857, 19th  Adj.  Sess.,  Appendix,  pages  116, 117. 


NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  MISSOURI  25 

was  started  as  an  avowed  forerunner  of  a  state  system,  and  Baldwin  entered  at  once 
into  an  energetic  campaign  to  place  it  on  that  footing.  As  a  leading  figure  In  the  pro- 
fessional education  of  teachers  in  Missouri  for  the  next  dozen  years  Joseph  Baldwin 
deserves  more  than  passing  notice.  Born  in  Pennsylvania  in  18S7  and  educated  at 
Bethany  College  in  Virginia,  he  early  sought  the  frontier,  teaching  for  four  years  in 
western  Missouri — 1852-56.  During  the  next  eleven  years  he  conducted  four  dif- 
ferent normal  schools  in  Indiana  and  Pennsylvania,  attended  a  fifth,  and  served  a 
year  in  the  army.  He  apparently  found  his  work  when  he  came  to  Kirksville,  for  his 
subsequent  career  was  more  stable.  A  man  of  modest  scholarship,  Baldwin  seems  to 
have  been  a  noble,  strongly  emotional  soul,  who  took  up  his  cause  with  the  ardor  of 
an  evangelist.  He  was  himself  an  elder  in  the  Church  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  and 
selected  two  ordained  ministers  as  his  first  assistants.  For  all  of  them  the  educational 
appeal  was  a  veritable  gospel,  and  this  became  and  long  remained  the  note  of  the 
whole  normal  school  movement  in  Missouri.  The  primary  task  has  been  to  arouse  and 
inspire  country  boys  and  girls,  usually  handicapped  by  lack  of  funds  and  defective 
early  training,  to  secure  an  education.  Large  numbers  of  normal  school  teachers  have 
labored  to  this  end  with  splendid,  almost  apostolic,  zeal  and  have  done  an  incalcula- 
ble amount  of  good. 

THEEE  STATE  INSTITUTIONS  AUTHOKIZED 

In  1870,  after  much  agitation  and  several  unsuccessful  attempts,  legislation  was 
finally  secured  providing  for  two  institutions  to  be  controlled  by  a  single,  central 
board  of  seven  men,  the  location  of  the  schools  to  be  auctioned  off  to  the  towns  mak- 
ing the  highest  bids  in  land  and  cash  appropriations.  A  third  institution  for  south- 
east Missouri  was  voted  in  1873.  The  change  from  a  central  board  to  local  boards  in 
1874  will  be  discussed  later;  but  space  may  be  taken  here  to  comment  on  this  method 
of  locating  state  educational  institutions — the  method  followed  in  all  subsequent 
cases. 

METHOD  OF  LOCATING  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 

The  principle  seems  to  be  based  on  the  assumption  that  to  have  any  particular 
community  profit  by  the  presence  of  a  state  institution  is  intolerable,  but  as  such 
advantage  cannot  well  be  avoided,  the  community  should  first  be  made  to  pay  as  much 
as  possible  for  the  privilege.  While  the  financial  saving  to  a  wealthy  state  is  negli- 
gible, the  community  paying  the  bonus  has  generally  laid  its  plans  to  "  take  it  out  of 
the  school" at  the  first  opportunity,  thus  winning  for  the  new  institution  not  friends 
but  exploiters,  wh0  claim  not  only  legitimate  business  but  often  "  jobs."  In  1871 
Superintendent  Monteith  protested  against  a  plan  that  engendered  "so  much  of  local 
strife  and  bitterness  besides  tempting  an  ambitious  community  to  assume  a  burden 
of  taxation  heavier  than  they  are  able  to  bear."" l  Warrensburg  was  forced  to  repudi- 

1  State  Report,  1871 ,  -page  20, 


86  ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

ate  $50,000  of  her  pledge  of  $£00,000,  and  Rolla,  after  securing  the  state  school  of 
mines  with  the  help  of  a  bond  issue  of  $75,000,  succumbed  in  a  similar  fashion  by 
going  to  court  and  proving  the  action  to  have  been  taken  in  an  unconstitutional 
manner.  Even  when  in  possession  the  towns  have  had  to  defend  their  title :  when  the 
university  was  destroyed  by  fire,  the  people  of  Columbia  were  literally  "  held  up"  for 
a  fresh  bonus  of  $50,000. 

Aside  from  entirely  ignoring  the  educational  merits  of  the  problem,  the  bad  effects 
of  this  system  have  been  marked.  Kirksville  and  Chillicothe  were  involved  in  a  bitter 
legal  wrangle  over  the  first  school  in  the  northern  district.  The  Springfield  institution 
narrowly  escaped  going  to  a  border  town,  Webb  City,  a  fate  which,  perhaps  not  un- 
luckily, overtook  the  third  district  school  because  of  Cape  Girardeau's  four  thousand 
dollar  margin  over  Ironton  in  a  property  valuation,  altho  Cape  Girardeau  was  at  the 
time  sixteen  miles  from  a  railroad.  To  its  decided  detriment  the  fifth  district  school 
was  located  at  Maryville,  all  but  out  of  the  state;  while  Warrensburg,  on  a  single 
railroad  and  but  one  county  distant  from  Kansas,  won  over  Sedalia,  a  thriving  and 
more  centrally  located  town,  which  in  1871  was  connected  in  five  of  the  six  different 
directions  in  which  its  railroads  radiate  to-day,  The  dear  lesson  from  Missouri's  expe- 
rience is  that  state  schools  should  be  located  by  a  competent  educational  commimon  on 
educational  considerations  only,  and  that  the  state  should  pay  all  the  bills. 

CHANGJES  IN  STATUS  AND  IN  SCOPE  OF  WORK,  1871-1914 

As  originally  planned  and  as  conducted  for  the  first  thirty  years  of  their  history, 
the  normal  schools  offered  a  four-year  course  based  approximately  upon  the  gradua- 
tion requirements  of  the  elementary  school.  A  convenient  break  came  at  the  end  of 
the  first  two  years,  and  during  this  early  period  by  far  the  larger  number  of  students 
took  only  this  preliminary  work, — the  majority,  probably,  only  the  first  year  either 
in  whole  or  in  part.  A  preparatory  year  long  paralleled  the  upper  grade  work  for 
mature  students  who  had  not  completed  the  elementary  school;  and  a  graduate 
honor  was  offered  for  successful  experience  and  a  course  of  reading.  Practice  schools 
were  contemplated  from  the  outset,  and  have  been  maintained  except  for  certain  lean 
years  when  lack  of  funds  forced  their  suspension.  The  summer  session,  which  is  now 
more  largely  attended  than  all  others,  was  first  introduced  as  a  private  venture  of  the 
faculty  at  Warrensburg  in  1894,1  and  has  had  an  extraordinary  gix>wth,  due  not  a 
little  to  favoring  legislation 2  whereby  successful  attendance  could  be  counted  in  lieu 
of  examinations  for  certificates. 

Until  1904  the  schools  could  be  technically  rated  only  as  secondary  institutions. 
Their  character  was  in  fact  somewhat  different.  Most  of  the  advanced  students  were 
mature  men  and  women,  who  had  had  some,  often  considerable,  experience  as  teach- 
ers; they  were  a  select  group  with  unusually  industrious  habits,  and  could  not  fairly 

1  State  Report,  1896,  page  85, 

2  Ibid.,  1902,  page  2 ;  1906,  pagre  16. 


NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  MISSOURI  37 

be  compared  with  the  strictly  secondary  type  of  student.  There  were  some  also  who 
had  received  a  secondary  education  elsewhere,  and  were  taking  only  the  professional 
work  of  the  normal  school.  With  such  a  body  of  students  the  transition  to  a  genuine 
collegiate  status  seemed  a  simple  matter. 

In  1904  an  agreement  between  the  three  existing  schools  had  the  effect  shortly  of 
placing  the  last  two  years  of  the  four-year  course  on  a  time  level  with  early  college 
work.  High  school  graduates  were  given  credit  for  ten  of  the  eighteen  units  in  the 
four-year  "normal"  course,  and  as  the  number  of  high  school  graduates  steadily  in- 
creased, the  last  eight  units  came  eventually  to  correspond  to  the  first  two  collegiate 
years.  For  a  while  thereafter  the  first  two  years  of  the  "normal"  course  were  made  to 
do  duty  for  the  entire  high  school  period  by  fitting  in  more  or  less  elastic  prepara- 
tory terms.  For  a  considerable  time  also  the  high  school  graduates  took  their  profes- 
sional work  in  low  grade  classes  with  students  of  less  training.  Gradually,  however, 
the  first  two  years  were  expanded  into  a  four-year  high  school  course,  professional 
work  was  largely  deferred  to  the  collegiate  years,  and  the  present  organization  ap- 
peared. Coincident  with  the  change  of  1904  was  the  projection  of  two  "post-gradu- 
ate" -years  leading  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  which  included  the  single  year 
of  advanced  residence  work,  recognized  by  the  degree  of  Master  of  Pedagogy,  that 
had  been  announced  shortly  before. 

GEOWTH  IN  NUMBERS 

The  success  of  the  summer  school  with  its  favorable  effect  on  the  total  enrolment1 
has  tended  to  obscure  the  actual  extent  of  institutional  growth  during  the  recent 
period  of  expansion.  The  average  attendance  from  term  to  term  at  Warrensburg's 
regular  session,  taken  over  a  period  of  six  years,  1893  to  1898,  was  six  hundred 
thirty-one,  and  from  1911  to  191 4i  it  was  seven  hundred  nine,  or  a  gain  of  twelve  per 
cent.  Cape  Girardeau  shows  an  increase  from  two  hundred  forty-four  to  four  hun- 
dred sixty-three,  or  ninety  per  cent;  and  Kirksville,  from  four  hundred  fifty-eight 
to  six  hundred  thirty-three,  or  thirty-eight  per  cent.2  For  a  period  of  sixteen  years 
of  recent  development  in  this  type  of  normal  school  a  joint  increase  of  thirty-five 
per  cent  is  certainly  moderate,  and  is  much  nearer  the  truth  than  an  apparent  gain 
of  one  hundred  forty  per  cent  based  on  the  total  annual  enrolment.  The  two  new 
schools  at  Springfield  and  Mary  ville,  established  midway  in  this  period,  may  appear 
to  have  checked  the  growth  of  the  others.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  these  have 
served  sections  of  the  state  that  were  ill  represented  before.3 

1  For  an  expression  of  the  enrolment  of  1914  in  terms  of  a  standard  unit  of  enrolment  for  one  year,  see  page  428. 

2  At  Cape  Girardeau  the  facts  were  available  for  only  four  of  the  six  years  in  the  first  period.  At  Kirksville  the 
average  attendance  from  1893  to  1898  was  lacking,  but  was  inferred  to  be  seventy-one  per  cent  of  the  average  total 
enrolment  in  the  regular  session,  this  being  about  the  proportion  at  the  other  twa  schools. 

8  In  1916  over  half  of  Maryville's  spring  enrolment  (268)  was  from  the  local  county,  and  with  those  from  counties 
immediately  adjoining,  made  up  seventy  per  cent  of  the  school's  total  attendance.  Greene  County,  in  which  Spring- 
field is  located,  sent  one  student  to  the  regular  session  at  Warrensburg  in  1904-05,  the  year  before  the  school  was 
established  at  Springfield,  but  sent  274  to  Springfield  in  1914.  Six  contiguous  counties  sent  ten  to  Warrensburg  in 
1904-05  as  compared  with  188  to  Springfield  in  1914.  Nine  per  cent  only  of  the  regular  session  students  at  Warrens- 
burg  in  1904-05  came  from  counties  in  the  present  Springfield  district. 


38  ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

OPPOSITION 

It  was  a  decade  or  more  after  their  organization  before  the  schools  could  be  said 
to  be  secure  in  public  opinion.  Attempts  at  abolition  were  initiated  in  every  legisla- 
ture but  one  from  1871  to  1883.1  The  constitution  of  1875  protected  the  university, 
but  left  the  normal  schools  at  the  mercy  of  statutory  law;  they  therefore  shared  the 
fluctuating  support  of  the  public  school  system  itself  in  a  community  where  the  tra- 
dition of  the  free  public  school  was  not  yet  strong.  Throughout  the  seventies  the 
catalogues  annually  devote  several  pages  to  general  defence;  in  1880  the  Kirks ville 
bulletin  declared :  "  Success  has  been  achieved  in  the  face  of  stupendous  difficulties.  To 
secure  the  necessary  means  seemed  a  hopeless  task.  At  every  step  bitter  and  determined 
opposition  has  been  encountered.  Public  sentiment  in  Missouri  was  largely  opposed 
to  popular  education,  and  hence  opposed  to  Normal  Schools,  the  best  means  of  elevat- 
ing the  common  schools.1"1  Superintendent  Shannon  considered  that  the  definite  resolu- 
tions of  support  secured  in  the  Democratic  Convention  of  1880  marked  the  end  of  this 
opposition,2  altho  as  late  as  1895  President  Osborne  of  Wairensburg  observed  that 
"in  some  sections  of  the  state  there  is  strong  opposition  to  the  employment  of  Normal 
School  graduates.1"13  The  position  of  the  schools  was  further  embarrassed  by  the  pro- 
nounced objection  of  envious  towns  that  saw  in  them  only  local  benefits.  They  charged 
the.  state  with  supporting  institutions  to  take  the  place  of  local  high  schools.  Even 
the  small  elementary  practice  schools  were  attacked  as  so  much  further  aid  to  local 
education.  These  critics  pointed  chiefly  to  the  high  proportion  of  local  attendance 
that  has  characterized  all  of  the  normal  schools  from  the  beginning — a  feature  that 
is  marked  even  after  allowing  for  residents  attracted  to  the  town  by  the  school  itself. 

FINANCIAL  STRUGGLES 

The  struggle  for  existence,  altho  finally  successful,  kept  the  schools  impoverished 
and  uncertain  of  their  future.  At  Kirksville  the  state  spent  $50,000  to  finish  the  plant 
after  the  county  had  laid  out  $75,000.  But  Cape  Girardeau  alone  built  the  first  home 
for  its  school  at  a  cost  of  $50,000,  and  Warrensburg,  after  spending  $150,000,  waited 
ten  years  for  $10,000  from  the  state  with  which  to  complete  its  building.  In  the  mean- 
time, at  Warrensburg  (1880)  teachers  gave  up  part  of  their  salaries  to  obtain  money 
enough  to  finish  off  rooms  in  which  to  teach,  and  students  gave  entertainments  to  pay 
for  the  sidewalks.  The  annual  appropriation  to  each  school  was  reduced  in  1877  from 
$10,000  to  $7500,  and  at  Kirksville  two-thirds  of  that  was  long  held  up  by  the  audi- 
tor. As  late  as  1898,  the  state  appropriations  at  Warrensburg  lacked  $5000  of  the 
amount  needed  to  pay  the  teachers  alone ;  and  for  over  twenty-five  years  this  school  had 
no  appropriations  for  library  or  apparatus,  the  necessary  sums  being  eked  out  with 
small  incidental  fees,  or  with  tuition  from  students  not  pledged  to  teach  or  coming 
from  outside  the  state.4 

1  History  of  the  Mrst  District  State  Normal  School,  by  E.  M.  Violette,  1905,  page  82.     a  State  Report,  1880,  page  35. 
8  Ibid.,  1895,  page  85.          *  For  a  complete  list  of  biennial  expenditures  from  appropriations,  see  pag-e  441. 


NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  MISSOURI  39 

EFFECT  OF  POVERTY  ON  THE  SCHOOLS 

This  policy  of  near-starvation  could  not  fail  to  react  seriously  on  the  operation  and 
reputation  of  the  schools.  In  fact,  continued  financial  embarrassment  in  the  face  of  a 
pressing  opportunity  seems  to  have  been  the  principal  cause  of  their  weakness.  Every 
new  student  that  could  be  corralled,  and  every  old  student  that  could  be  retained,  was 
valuable  both  for  his  fees  and  as  a  means  of  additional  pressure  on  the  legislature  for 
more  funds.  What  this  led  to  educationally  is  seen  in  President  Osborne's  protest  in 
1886:  "The  classes  are  necessarily  very  large,  numbering,  in  some  instances,  from  sixty 
to  seventy  members.  This  renders  proper  classification  impossible  under  the  circum- 
stances. The  teachers  are  overworked,  their  best  efforts  are  checkmated  by  a  bad  clas- 
sification, and  both  discipline  and  scholastic  acquirements  suffer  in  consequence."1  Yet 
there  were  few  attempts  to  hold  the  numbers  within  limits  consistent  with  good  re- 
sults. In  1889  Warrensburg  did  raise  the  age  of  admission  for  girls  to  sixteen,  the 
same  as  for  boys,  and  President  Osborne  notes  that  "this  change  considerably  reduced 
the  rate  of  increase  in  attendance  for  the  year  1890,  but  the  enrolment  is  still  much 
too  large  for  the  number  of  teachers  employed."'"' 2  Kirksville  and  Cape  Girardeau  de- 
clined to  follow. 

Consequently  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  State  Superintendent  Coleman,  himself  a 
product  of  the  normal  school,  declaring  in  1889:  "One  real  trouble  has  always  existed 
in  our  normal  schools :  the  students  try  to  do  the  work  required  in  too  short  a  time. 
The  course  of  study  is  not  too  comprehensive,  but  students  are  admitted  too  young 
on  too  low  a  standard  of  scholarship,  and  then  pushed  too  rapidly."3  He  urges  the 
elimination  of  all  primary  work,  a  minimum  age  of  sixteen  for  admission,  and  a  rea- 
sonable four-year  curriculum  that  actually  requires  four  years.  Of  course  very  young 
students,  rapid  promotion,  and  the  consequent  early  diploma  or  degree,  mean  more 
students ;  and,  paradoxically  perhaps,  by  holding  out  a  degree  close  at  hand,  these 
policies  mean  longer  attendance  by  each  student,  thus  bringing  us  again  to  the  funda- 
mental consideration — enrolment.  All  of  these  tendencies  in  the  normal  schools 
have  persisted  almost  if  not  quite  to  the  present  day,  and  appear  distinctly  traceable 
to  the  legislator's  policy  that  considers  gross  enrolment  as  the  main  justification  for 
increased  appropriations. 

RELATIONS  WITH  COLLEGES  AND  UNIVERSITIES 

Conditions  such  as  these  were  inevitably  reflected  in  the  opinion  of  outside  insti- 
tutions with  which  the  normal  school  came  into  competition.  Reference  is  made  here 
not  to  the  several  "private  normals7'  and  small  denominational  colleges,  most  of  which 
have  since  disappeared, — schools  that  from  time  to  time  made  common  cause  in  at- 
tacking the  certificate  privileges  of  the  normal  schools,  and  that  on  at  least  two  occa- 
sions4 came  close  to  success.  It  is  a  question  rather  of  the  reputation  of  the  state  nor- 

1  State  Eeport,  1886,  page  119.          2  Ibid.,  1890,  pagre  114. 

8  Ibid.*  1889,  page  27.  *  1895  and  1905,  See  Violette,  op.  cit.,  page  83. 


40  ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

mal  schools  among  the  stronger  institutions  of  recognized  collegiate  standing.  These 
colleges.,  to  be  sure,  had  secondary  departments,  and  were  therefore  in  direct  compe- 
tition with  the  normal  schools ;  the  university  itself  maintained  such  a  department 
until  1893.  Furthermore,  many  normal  school  students  and  nearly  all  graduates  were 
as  old  as  the  average  college  student.  President  Baldwin  had  projected  an  institution 
which,  in  his  phrase,  was  to  become  the  "peer  of  the  college,"  and  which  did  at  first 
essay  many  college  subjects.  Conditions  which  it  could  not  control,  however,  soon 
brought  the  normal  school  to  the  level  of  its  low  admission  requirements ;  while  its 
advanced  classes  were  left  empty,  it  was  overrun  with  elementary,  short  time  students; 
and  its  financial  support  was  such  as  to  make  good  educational  standards  impossible 
in  handling  such  large  numbers. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  university  and  the  better  colleges  were  steadily  climbing 
upward;  admission  requirements  were  gradually  advanced;  students  entered  at  least 
for  the  year  and  usually  for  the  entire  course.  While  the  normal  schools  were  neces- 
sarily local  in  their  sympathies,  the  colleges,  and  particularly  the  university,  were  seek- 
ing their  places  in  the  larger  fraternity  of  scholars,  and  were  jealous  of  the  standards 
that  placed  them  there.  The  normal  schools  were  victims  of  an  isolated  statutory  and 
economic  situation  that  governed  completely  the  material  with  which  they  dealt  and 
the  terms  of  their  own  operation,  while  the  higher  schools  were  lifted  and  carried 
along  more  or  less  by  the  current  of  national  educational  opinion. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  therefore,  that  with  no  agency  at  hand  to  bring  about 
and  maintain  a  mutual  understanding,  friction  should  arise  the  moment  the  question 
of  recognition  of  credit  appeared.  The  nature  of  entrance  requirements  and  the  method 
of  their  enforcement;  the  basis  on  which  advanced  standing  is  accepted;  the  whole  sys- 
tem of  school  credit  for  promotion  and  graduation;  the  organization  and  sequence  of 
courses;  the  accuracy  and  completeness  of  classification;  the  training  of  instructors 
and  the  conditions  under  which  they  work, — questions  like  these  become  vital  when 
institutions  agree  to  a  mutual  interchange  of  accounts;  and  it  is  around  these  points 
that  the  criticisms  by  other  institutions  have  centred.  These  criticisms  became  acute 
when  the  normal  schools  began  consciously  to  provide  for  the  preparation  of  teachers 
for  high  schools.  High  schools  in  Missouri  have  sprung  largely  from  the  elementary 
school  system,  and  have  carried  up  out  of  the  elementary  ranks  the  best  of  the  ele- 
mentary teachers.  For  small  schools  there  was  no  alternative.  Finding  themselves  thus 
in  possession  of  the  field,  the  normal  schools  have  naturally  and  very  fortunately  as- 
sumed the  burden  of  making  these  high  school  teachers  as  good  as  possible.  Meanwhile 
the  strong,  fully  accredited  high  schools  the  country  over  have  in  general  desired  a 
college- trained  staff.  Consequently  as  weak  schools  became  strong  schools  the  problem 
grew  more  perplexing.  Can  the  normal  school  give  as  suitable  and  thorough  training 
for  high  school  teachers  as  the  college  ?  If  not,  why  not? 

In  the  absence  of  a  state  authority  empowered  to  study  and  accommodate  the  situa- 
tion, controversy  has  run  high  both  in  Missouri  and  elsewhere,  and  has  done  injustice 


NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  MISSOURI  41 

to  both  parties.  The  service  performed  by  the  normal  schools  has  been  in  itself  worthy 
and  devoted.  They  have  been  a  powerful  and  ceaseless  leaven  of  righteousness  and 
progress  operating  where  no  other  existing  force  could  operate.  This  fact  all  honest 
observers  must  recognize.  Their  achievement  should  not  be  obscured  or  belittled  by 
criticisms  aroused  thru  their  aspirations  for  academic  rating.  It  is  inevitable  and 
proper  in  view  of  their  past  history,  however,  that  if  such  rating  be  accorded,  the  nor- 
mal schools  should  demonstrate  their  fulfilment  of  the  standards  by  which  they  seek 
to  be  judged.  Such  fulfilment  can  hardly  be  by  affirmation  merely;  the  burden  of  proof 
rests  with  them. 


IV 

GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL  OF  MISSOURI  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

A.  THE  PIIESENT  SYSTEM 
CONTROL  FIRST  VESTED  IN  A  SINGLE  BOARD 

AT  the  time  of  their  establishment  the  responsible  oversight  of  the  state  normal  schools 
was  lodged  with  a  single  board  of  regents.  As  this  arrangement  is  in  marked  contrast 
with  the  multiple  board  system  of  to-day  to  which  it  was  shortly  changed,  its  main 
features  together  with  the  reasons  for  its  discontinuance  are  of  interest. 

The  board  was  created  by  act  of  the  legislature  at  its  session  in  1870;  it  was  to 
consist,  in  addition  to  the  three  ew-officio  members  of  the  State  Board  of  Education, 
of  four  men  appointed  by  the  governor,  two  of  whom  were  to  be  chosen  from  the  coun- 
ties north  of  the  Missouri  River,  and  two  from  the  counties  south  of  the  river,  these 
being  the  districts  proposed  for  the  two  schools  then  projected.  In  the  attempted 
legislation  of  1869  and  in  the  original  drafts  of  1870,  when  first  six  and  then  four 
schools  were  planned,  the  control  contemplated  was  the  same  —  a  board  first  of  fif- 
teen,1 then  of  eleven  members.2  This  plan  appears  to  have  been  persistently  adhered 
to  by  the  promoters  of  the  movement;  they  evidently  thought  of  the  work  of  these 
schools  as  the  same  throughout;  duplication  was  resorted  to  for  the  sake  of  geograph- 
ical convenience,  but  a  single  aim  was  to  be  defined  and  attained  by  a  single  man- 
agement. With  this  idea  the  board  located  its  first  two  schools,  and  drew  up  common 
courses  of  study  and  common  regulations  for  their  operation.  But  serious  opposition 
was  aroused  in  the  agitation  over  location.3  Charges  of  corruption  long  hampered  the 
board  in  its  work. 

OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  SINGLE  BOARD 

Aided  by  such  recent  experience,  southeast  Missouri  with  aggressive  sectional  zeal 
brought  it  about  that  the  school  assigned  to  it  in  1873  should  be  entrusted  to  a  sepa- 
rate board,  in  which  the  appointive  members  should  all  be  local.  This  wedge  afforded 
a  good  opening  for  an  attack  on  the  central  board.  Other  districts  felt  that  they  might 
obtain  a  school  more  readily  if  all  schools  were  locally  controlled  than  if  they  had  to 
deal  with  a  centralized  management.4  It  was  the  practice  at  the  time  to  turn  over  the 
entire  legislative  appropriation  for  an  institution  to  its  regents  immediately  after  ap- 
proval. Communities  that  had  bled  themselves  to  secure  their  respective  schools  con- 
sidered it  intolerable  that  five  or  ten  thousand  dollars  that  would  belong  eventually 
to  them  should  be  held  up  for  months.  As  the  handling  of  the  money  seemed  to  be 
clearly  theirs,  it  appeared  likewise  an  infringement  of  their  dignity  to  have  even  the 
educational  affairs  of  the  institution  controlled  from  a  distance*  So  firmly  fixed  was 

1  House  Journal,  1869,  page  256.          *  Ibid,,  1870,  pages  299-301.  8  See  page  35. 

4  This  and  certain  other  statements  in  this  section  are  made  on  the  authority  of  conversations  with  persons  actively 

interested  in' this  movement  at  the  time. 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  43 

this  idea  of  local  proprietorship  that  later,  under  the  new  order,  the  whole  board 
of  the  Second  District  School,  except  the  state  superintendent,  was  at  first  drawn 
from  the  one  county,  three  being  citizens  of  Warrensburg.  Even  the  normal  school 
teachers  were  opposed  to  the  central  board,  as  appears  in  a  resolution  of  the  Kirks- 
ville  faculty  of  December  IS,  1873.1 

SEPARATE  BOARDS  —  CONTEMPORARY  CRITICISM 

The  old  plan  gave  way  in  1874,  and  was  followed  by  the  present  system — a  board 
for  each  school  consisting  of  the  state  superintendent  ex  officio  and  six  others.  These 
are  appointed  from  thelocal  district  by  the  governor  in  three  classes  of  two  each  for  six 
years  instead  of  four  as  previously;  at  least  one  member  of  the  board  to  be  a  resident 
of  the  county  in  which  the  school  is  located.  The  extension  of  term  and  the  elimina- 
tion of  two  of  the  ew-officio  members — the  secretary  of  state  and  the  attorney-gen- 
eral— were  clearly  steps  in  the  right  direction.  An  amendment  of  1889,  by  requiring 
that  not  more  than  four  regents  belong  to  any  one  political  party,  completed  the 
present  arrangement.  This  proviso  seems  to  have  done  away  with  the  most  flagrant 
political  abuses  of  the  new  plan ;  a  strong  minority  of  three  being  usually  able  to 
make  itself  felt. 

As  to  just  how  the  new  scheme  worked  in  its  early  days  we  have  no  information  ex- 
cept thru  cautious  public  utterances  of  officials.  Two  of  these  are  unequivocal  enough 
regarding  its  educational  features,  and  state  admirably  the  principles  which  later 
experience  has  in  general  shown  to  be  correct.  State  Superintendent  John  Monteith, 
after  seeing  the  new  plan  in  operation  for  nearly  a  year,  reports  as  follows: 

"Organization  for  the  conduct  and  government  of  the  State  Normals  is  yet,  as 
I  think,  quite  far  from  what  it  should  be.  The  new  law  of  last  winter,  in  many 
respects  good,  does  not  provide  the  best  system  of  control  No  large  school  of 
the  class  under  consideration  can  prosper,  unless  at  its  head  is  jplaced  an  accom- 
plished President,  learned,  of  excellent  executive  ability,  and  fitted  for  his  spe- 
cialty. When  such  a  head  is  secured  the  school  is  better  with  the  least  possi- 
ble outside  government.  This  Director"  should,  to  a  very  large  extent,  be  held 
responsible  for  the  careful  and  wise  conduct  of  the  school.  I  am,  therefore,  op- 
posed to  the  system  of  local  boards.  A  general  board  to  supervise  the  whole 
system  of  schools,  with  executive  committees  to  visit  and  attend  to  the  business 
of  each  individual  school,  is  found  by  experience  to  be  far  better.  It  is  cheaper. 
It  unifies  the  general  features  of  the  schools  without  impairing  their  individu- 
ality."2 

Montejth's  successor,  Dr.  R.  D.  Shannon,  began  his  service  with  1875.  Looking  back 
on  bis  double  term  of  office  in  1882,  he  says: 

"By  the  harmonious  cooperation  of  the  boards  of  regents  of  the  several  Normal 
schools,  they  have  been  brought  much  nearer  to  a  common  standard  within  the 
last  six  years.  But  this  is  merely  a  fortuitous  circumstance  controlled  by  no  in- 
fluence stronger  than  the  pleasant  and  agreeable  relations  between  boards  sep- 

*  Violette,  op.  oit.,  page  193.          8  State  Report,  1874,  page  17. 


4*  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL 

arated  by  great  distance  and  ignorant  both  of  each  other  and  of  the  conditions 
and  needs  of  the  schools  over  which  they  do  not  preside.  ...  As  there  can  be 
but  one  policy  upon  the  part  of  the  State  with  reference  to  these  institutions, 
—  since  the  interests  of  all  sections  are  identical  as  to  education,  and  demand 
the  same  qualifications  upon  the  part  of  teachers  and  the  same  methods  of  in- 
struction— it  would  be  better  to  secure  perfect  uniformity  in  the  courses  of  in- 
struction and  perfect  harmony  in  the  management  of  these  schools  by  placing 
three  of  them  under  a  single  board."1 

ATTEMPTS  TO  UNIFY  THE  SCHOOLS  EDUCATIONALLY 

In  1874,  in  view  of  the  dissolution  of  the  central  board  that  was  just  then  taking 
place.  President  Baldwin  of  Kirksville  urged  a  joint  committee  of  presidents  to  pass 
upon  applications  for  graduation,2  doubtless  with  the  idea  that  this  would  also  help 
to  keep  the  schools  together.  In  his  next  report  he  pleads  for  "unity  of  plan,  harmony 
of  action,  and  hearty  cooperation"3  among  all  the  state  institutions.  President  Cheney 
of  Cape  Girardeau,  in  his  report  of  the  same  year,  put  first  among  his  needs  "the  same 
course  or  courses  of  study  for  all  these  schools,"  and  "the  same  conditions  of  grad- 
uation in  all. 'H  All  these  desiderata  were  secured  by  Superintendent  Shannon  thru 
conference,  and  for  ten  years  the  joint  board  of  presidents  that  President  Baldwin 
had  suggested  went  from  school  to  school  as  an  effective  body  for  educational  control. 
The  result  was  marked;  President  Osborne  of  Warrensburg  declared:  "The  value  of 
these  measures  in  bringing  about  unity  in  the  normal  work  can  scarcely  be  overesti- 
mated. The  tendency  of  a  common  course  of  study  towards  this  end  is  at  once  appar- 
ent;" and  he  saw  in  it  a  "means  of  annually  comparing  results  and  thus  promoting  a 
generous  rivalry."5  But  a  union  held  only  by 'this  voluntary  personal  tie  was  bound  to 
dissolve  as  the  individuals  changed,  and  the  schools  drifted  apart.  Not  until  1899  did 
they  succeed  in  bringing  about  another  common  course  of  study.  In  1904  they  united, 
with  important  reservations  on  the  part  of  Kirksville,  in  essential  administrative 
arrangements,  and  corrected  these  again  in  1914;  the  important  agreement  of  1916 
will  be  mentioned  later.  These  occasional  seasons  of  harmony — all  voluntary  and  oc- 
curring only  when  the  situation  had  become  bad —  were,  however,  merely  incidents 
in  long  periods  of  marked  divergence.  In  fact,  since  1899  attempts  to  unite  on  a  cur- 
riculum have  been  abandoned  entirely,  and  each  institution  has  been  busy  following 
the  particular  vision  of  its  own  leader,  who  calls  the  procedure  "meeting  local  con- 
ditions," or  "developing  the  genius  of  the  institution,"  or  "satisfying  the  demands  of 
the  people,"  or  "upholding  democracy  in  education,"  as  the  case  may  be. 

PRESENT  OPERATION  OF  THE  SEPARATE  BOARDS 

This  review  of  the  early  changes  in  organization  and  of  the  fitful  and  futile  efforts 
of  the  heads  of  the  institutions  to  secure  united  action,  at  least  in  their  educational 

1  State  Report,  1882,  page  xii.          2  Ibid.,  1874,  page  45.          8  Ibid.,  1875,  page  188. 
4  Ibid. ,  1875,  page  195.          e  Ibid. ,  1878,  page  283. 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  45 

function,  brings  us  to  a  general  examination  of  the  system  as  it  appears  to  operate 
to-day.  A  careful  study  of  the  personnel  of  the  several  boards  of  regents  was  not  made. 
Present  or  past  members  of  each  board  were  Interviewed,  in  certain  cases  repeatedly 
and  at  some  length.  The  character  of  these  gentlemen  would  indicate  that,  on  the 
whole,  the  boards  have  represented  a  high  average  of  general  ability.  Some  mem- 
bers have  served  their  respective  institutions  for  from  twenty  to  thirty  years,  the 
tendency  in  some  places,  particularly  at  Cape  Girardeau,  being  toward  rather  stable 
membership.  The  additions  year  by  year  reflect,  of  course,  the  qualities  of  the  gov- 
ernor who  appoints  them,  but  on  the  whole  it  is  improbable  that  this  method  of 
selection  will  anywhere  provide  a  better  group  of  men.  The  one  remediable  defect  in 
the  present  system  is  the  rapidity  with  which  the  boards  may  change,  in  spite  of 
a  six-year  term.  Owing  to  death  or  resignation  it  has  occurred  several  times  recently 
that  three  members  have  changed  in  a  single  biennium,  and  even  in  the  natural  course 
of  events  a  governor  who  so  desires  may  change  four  members,  or  a  majority  of  the 
board,  within  his  single  term  of  office.  Moreover,  the  elective  state  superintendent  is 
likely  to  change  within  the  same  period,  making  an  almost  complete  overturn  of  the 
group.  When  it  is  remembered  that  the  one  condition  of  the  successful  operation  of  a 
lay  board  is  that  the  replacements  be  made  slowly  enough  to  enable  the  head  of  the 
school  and  the  older  members  of  the  board  to  educate  the  newcomers  to  a  sound  con- 
ception of  their  duties,  it  will  be  seen  that  changes  now  come  too  fast;  to  say  nothing 
of  the  unwisdom  of  having  the  whole  character  of  the  board  subject  to  the  ideas  of  any 
one  governor.  The  board  may  and  often  does  come  together  but  once  or  twice  a  year, 
and  its  opportunity  to  study  the  situation  may  be  very  slight;  one  new  member  in  each 
biennium  would  allow  sufficient  elasticity,  and  would  at  the  same  time  ensure  a  stable 
and  as  well-informed  a  membership  as  the  nature  of  the  selections  would  permit. 

FUNCTION  OF  A  BOARD  NOT  UNDERSTOOD 

It  is  to  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  their  duties  on  the  part  of  board  members  that  many 
of  the  internal  difficulties  of  the  schools  are  directly  traceable.  Most  students  of  edu- 
cation will  agree  that  efficient  control  of  an  educational  institution  involves  broadly 
two  kinds  of  responsibility:  first,  the  care  that  the  concrete  processes  of  education — 
study  and  instruction,  training  and  testing — shall  go  forward  with  the  maximum 
speed  and  thoroughness;  and  second,  solely  for  the  sake  of  the  first,  that  the  material 
means  and  equipment — buildings,  apparatus,  and  salaries — shall  be  adequately  and 
economically  supplied,  A  third  responsibility,  lacking  which  the  otiber  two  may  be 
met  in  vain,  is  not  so  generally  discerned,  namely,  that  the  aim  of  the  institution 
shall  be  continually  reconsidered  in  the  light  of  changing  situations  and  promptly 
and  wisely  readjusted.  Under  modern  conditions  all  of  these  obligations  are  tasks  for 
well -trained  men  giving  their  entire  time  to  their  work,  if  the  business  of  preparing 
teachers  is  to  be  prosecuted  with  success  equal  to  that  even  of  a  modern  manufactur- 
ing concern. 


46  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL 

WHAT  is  THE  FUNCTION  OF  A  BOARD  OF  REGENTS  ? 

What,  then,  is  the  function  of  the  regents?  By  good  fortune  the  field  work  of  this 
study  was  begun  with  the  school  at  Mary  ville  at  a  meeting  with  the  board  of  regents 
of  that  institution,  where  the  impression,  subsequently  confirmed  by  the  head  of  the 
school,  was  gained  that  almost  ideal  conditions  existed  between  school  and  board.  A 
perusal  of  the  state  reports  later  revealed  a  letter  from  the  president  of  this  board — 
then  president  of  the  local  school  board — giving  his  views  as  to  the  function  of  a  school 
board.  We  cannot  do  better  than  quote  this  in  part: 

"Upon  one  side  is  democracy  represented  by  the  Board  of  Education,  and  upon 
the  other  a  cultured  institution.  Between  the  two  as  an  intermediary  is  the  super- 
intendent. The  relation  of  the  board  to  the  community  is  somewhat  analogous  to 
that  of  the  superintendent  to  the  board.  While  some  of  the  duties  of  the  board 
are  fixed  by  legal  enactment,  many  of  them  are  by  implication.  It  is  its  duty  to 
look  after  the  highest  welfare  of  the  institution  intrusted  to  its  care.  It  is  also  its 
duty  to  lead  the  community  to  recognize  what  is  best  in  education.  As  the  Board 
represents  a  culture  higher  than  the  general  culture  of  the  community,  and  as 
its  closer  relations  with  the  school  and  supervising  officers  give  to  it  a  wider  and 
better  view  than  the  views  of  the  community,  the  work  of  the  Board  becomes 
directly  educative,  and  its  duty,  manifestly,  is  to  inform  and  direct  the  commu- 
nity. ...  It  [the  Board]  is  a  non-professional  organization  with  work  to  be  done 
requiring  very  high  professional  wisdom  and  skill.  The  whole  complex  organiza- 
tion of  the  school  and  its  work  in  detail  may  come  within  the  scope  of  its  offi- 
cial observations,  but  at  the  suggestion  and  under  the  direction  of  the  superin- 
tendent. He  becomes  for  it  the  measure  of  its  efficient  service.  It  should  exact  of 
him  the  greatest  vigilance  and  the  most  painstaking  accuracy,  and  it  has  a  right 
to  expect  of  him  candor  and  frankness.  Upon  the  other  hand  it  should  be  guided 
by  his  wisdom  and  influenced  by  his  recommendations,  and  it  must  honor  him 
with  its  confidence  and  loyalty."1 

If  these  principles  hold  of  a  municipal  school  system,  they  should  be  doubly  sacred 
in  a  higher  professional  institution.  The  all-important  business  of  a  board  is  to  keep 
a  first-class  executive  at  the  head,  and  then  the  less  government  the  better,  as  Super- 
intendent Monteith  said  forty  years  ago.  Many  normal  school  regents  in  Missouri 
apparently  fail  to  discover  this,  and  exceedingly  few  realize  it  at  the  time  of  their 
appointment.  To  the  excellent  and  devoted  men  who  have  seen  clearly,  who  have 
spent  their  best  energies  in  securing  a  thoroughly  trained,  experienced,  and  able  man, 
and  have  then  buttressed  his  efforts  both  in  school  and  community  with  an  eye  solely 
to  the  success  of  the  school,  are  due  the  good  results  already  achieved.  But  the  labor 
of  dealing  successfully  with  those  gentlemen  who  either  from  igno.rance  or  self-interest 
do  not  have  this  point  of  view  is  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  results.  Not  understand- 
ing the  true  relation  it  irks  them  to  be,  as  they  say,  "a  mere  rubber  stamp" — a  feel- 
ing that  does  credit  to  their  conscience  if  not  to  their  intelligence.  They  have  been 
appointed;  they  must  justify  that  appointment  by  action;  and  the  action  taken  usually 

1  State  Report,  1904,  page  55. 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  47 

tries  the  nerve  of  the  president  and  his  readiness  to  sacrifice  everything  for  his  pro- 
fessional integrity.  If  he  stands  the  test,  the  fight  is  usually  won;  if  he  yields,  however 
little,  to  what  he  knows  to  be  professionally  wrong,  he  is  the  tool  and  toy  of  that 
board  thereafter.  For  the  sake  of  the  school  such  a  test  of  real  presidential  timber 
would  not  be  a  bad  thing,  if  boards  would  only  drop  the  timid  and  reward  the  brave; 
but  that  is  not  their  way.  Even  at  Maryville,  at  the  time  of  organization,  the  first 
board,  and  not  the  president,  selected  the  school's  first  faculty  regardless  of  profes- 
sional considerations ;  the  strategic  importance  of  a  teacher  in  the  new  district  or  his 
personal  relationship  seems  to  have  played  the  important  role.  In  another  school,  much 
more  recently,  the  leading  member  of  the  faculty,  next  to  the  president,  was  ousted  in 
spite  of  the  protest  of  the  president's  renewed  nomination — and  the  president  re- 
mained !  Two  of  the  boards  have  recently  elected  members  of  their  own  body  to  posi- 
tions of  profit  in  the  schools  without  the  consent  of  the  presidents  concerned,  and  by 
one  of  them  a  field  agent  with  whom  the  president  cannot  cooperate  has  been  main* 
tained  upon  the  payroll  for  years  in  face  of  the  president's  direct  opposition.  The 
latter  bokrd  will  not  only  make  appointments  distasteful  to  the  president,  but  will 
invite  and  encourage  direct  dealings  with  faculty  members,  especially  with  such  as  are 
willing  to  use  this  method  of  raising  their  salaries,  and  at  its  annual  meeting  will 
determine  the  whole  faculty  schedule,  ignoring  the  president  and  reflecting  him  last. 
So  far  as  appeared,  the  school  at  Cape  Girardeau  has  been  free  from  mismanagement 
of  this  sort. 

Even  when  board  members  will  not  openly  oppose  the  prerogative  of  the  educa- 
tional head  in  planning  the  efficiency  of  his  institution,  there  is  a  subtler  pressure 
which  the  bravest  executive  resists  with  difficulty,  namely,  the  tendency  to  shape 
nominations  and  proposals  partly  to  suit  the  known  preferences  of  the  board  when 
these  are  made  apparent.  A  board  that  cannot  abstain  from  such  expression  and  that 
neglects  to  reinforce  not  only  a  president's  right  but  his  complete  responsibility  for 
the  personnel  of  his  corps,  runs  great  risk  of  leading  him  to  sacrifice  excellence  in 
a  well-meant  desire  for  "harmony." 

PARTY  POLITICS  IN  THE  BOAKDS 

However  ridden  with  school  politics  certain  of  the  normal  schools  appear  to  have 
been,  and  to  be,  there  apparently  has  been,  until  very  recently,  a  marked  freedom  from 
party  politics  in  the  operations  of  the  boards.  A  vain  effort  from  high  party  author- 
ities to  foist  off  on  a  courageous  president  a  "lame"  party  politician  as  a  teacher  dis- 
closes an  always  latent  tendency ;  in  this  case  the  board  seems  to  have  loyally  protected 
its  leader  from  punishment.  Still  more  instructive  and  deplorable  from  every  point  of 
view  was  the  recent  apparent  attempt  to  pay  a  political  debt  with  the  presidency  of  the 
school  at  Warrensburg.  The  proposed  beneficiary,  a  personally  attractive  and  capable 
gentleman  and  an  active  party  worker  possessing  strong  political  connections,  was 
a  man  with  but  a  fragment  of  even  a  college  education,  and  without  administrative 


48  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL 

training  or  experience  that  would  qualify  him  for  such  a  post.  A  vacancy  was  created 
by  dropping  a  man  of  the  opposite  party  who  for  nine  years  had  served  the  school, 
and  under  whose  charge  it  had  enjoyed  extraordinary  growth  and  prosperity.  From 
all  that  could  be  learned,  furthermore,  this  was  accomplished  without  the  faintest 
pretence  at  basing  the  procedure  on  educational  or  professional  grounds.  With  plans 
well  laid  the  board  proceeded  to  the  election  of  a  new  president,  but  the  alumni  were  so 
aroused,  and  the  upheaval  among  the  teachers  of  the  school  became  so  threatening  at 
the  prospect  of  a  leader  inferior  in  training  and  experience  to  most  of  themselves,  not 
to  mention  the  grossness  of  the  political  barter  involved,  that  the  board's  courage 
weakened.  Fortunately  the  minority  nominee  was  a  choice  on  which  it  would  have  been 
difficult  to  improve — a  man  with  collegiate  and  graduate  preparation  and  a  conspicu- 
ously successful  experience  of  some  length  at  the  Warrensburg  school;  on  him  the 
board  finally  united.  It  is  little  short  of  a  disaster  when  for  any  reason  an  educational 
institution  falls  into  the  hands  of  a  person  not  qualified  to  direct  it.  This  was  happily 
prevented  at  Warrensburg.  It  is,  however,  a  moral  disaster  complete  and  overwhelm- 
ing when  seven  trustees  of  an  institution,  or  a  majority  of  them,  prove  false  to  their 
official  duty  on  the  occasion  which  is  the  chief  reason  for  their  existence  as  trustees* 
Such  a  calamity  the  outcome  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  averted, 

WEAKNESS  OF  THE  BOAEDS  IN  MATERIAL  AS  WELL  AS  IN  EDUCATIONAL  PBOBLEMS 

The  boards  do  their  best  work  in  handling  the  questions  of  the  second  group  cited 
above,  namely,,  those  growing  out  of  the  material  equipment  and  financial  mainte- 
nance of  the  institution.  Here  the  criticism  of  experienced  and  successful  laymen  is 
of  great  value,  but  may  be  overdone,  as  is  proved  in  the  case  where  a  much  needed 
increase  in  salaries — the  paramount  consideration  of  a  good  school — was  held  up 
for  years  by  an  active  regent,  who  could  see  only  the  need  for  an  enlarged  equipment 
and  campus  improvement.  Under  this  head  falls  also  the  paralyzing  practice  alleged 
and  apparently  true,  of  some  boards,  of  judging  the  worth  of  a  teacher,  and  his  con- 
sequent differential  treatment  in  salary,  on  the  basis  .of  the  number  of  students  that  he 
can  enroll  in  his  classes.  Again,  Missouri  boards  have  been  known  to  erect  buildings 
and  to  exclude  the  head  of  the  school  from  even  an  advisory  participation  in  plan- 
ning the  structure  he  is  to  use.  In  all  these  situations  the  educational  consideration 
should  obviously  come  first,  and  the  judgment  of  those  men  who  are  trained  and  paid 
to  know  should  prevail. 

in  the  important  responsibilities  of  the  third  class  mentioned — those  of  studying 
and  redefining  the  aim  of  the  school — the  board  of  regents  is  naturally  helpless.  Not 
only  is  the  average  local  regent  incapable,  thru  lack  of  data,  of  judging  what  the 
exact  aim  and  scope  of  the  school  should  be;  he  is  predisposed  thru  his  local  and 
sectional  sympathies  to  favor  any  and  all  developments  of  the  institution  that  will 
serve  a  purely  local  or  sectional  end.  If  it  is  proposed  to  have  a  college  instead  of 
a  normal  school,  he  is  in  favor  of  it,  of  course;  shall  an  agricultural  and  commercial 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  49 

trade  school  be  added,  he  sees  great  advantages;  shall  courses  for  new  types  of  teach- 
ers be  advertised,  he  agrees  at  once,  if  the  new  departure  will  enroll  more  students. 
The  problems  involved  are  highly  technical,  and  he  is  perforce  at  the  mercy  of  his 
chief  educational  adviser.  Here  any  energetic  and  plausible  president  can  work  his 
will,  especially  if  he  can  show — a  matter  of  deplorable  facility — that  "it  won't  cost 
much,  if  any,  more." 

LACK  OF  UNITY  IN  POLICIES  AFFECTING  THE  WHOLE  STATE 

The  system  bears  its  full  fruit  When  it  becomes,  as  in  Missouri,  a  question  not  of 
a  single  institution,  but  of  a  series  of  institutions  established  for  one  well-understood 
purpose — to  provide  a  good  teacher  for  every  school  position  in  the  state.  Here  are 
five  schools  with  independent  local  boards  as  described  above,  and  a  sixth,  the  uni- 
versity, having  a  general  board  representing  the  entire  state.  All  are  preparing  teach- 
ers, and  all  are  supported  by  state  taxation.  The  state  has  a  maximum  need  which  all 
the  schools  together,  with  the  most  complete  cooperation,  could  scarcely  meet,  yet  no 
means  exists  of  coordinating  the  efforts  made  by  each  in  a  practical  solution  of  the 
common  problem.  In  the  five  normal  schools  it  was  probably  intended  that  the  state 
superintendent  should  be  the  unifying  factor  common  to  all  boards.  This  officer,  how- 
ever, is  himself  elective  and  without  much  aubhority.  He  is  a  convenient  counselor  to 
the  presidents  and  occasionally  to  the  boards,  but  as  related  to  the  latter,  his  posi- 
tion, in  the  opinion  of  at  least  two  recent  incumbents  of  the  office,  is  isolated  and 
relatively  without  influence.  If  he  were  himself  a  trained  and  responsible  appointive 
officer,  and  if  then  normal  school  boards  could  elect  their  presidents  only  on  his  nom- 
ination, and  change  their  curricula  only  with  his  approval,  he  could  do  the  state  a 
great  service  thru  his  grasp  of  its  problem  as  a  whole. 

EACH  SCHOOL  A  LAW  UNTO  ITSELF 

In  the  absence  of  any  coordinating  authority,  each  school  moves  solely  in  its  own 
interest.  Its  winnings  from  the  legislature  are  in  fairly  direct  proportion  to  the  politi- 
cal influence  exerted  by  the  president  or  board  members.  Activity  of  this  sort  is  in- 
cessant and  skilfully  directed,  but  that  educational  considerations  play  but  a  minor 
role  in  the  apportionments  is  evident  from  the  striking  inequalities  that  exist.  While 
the  school  at  Cape  Girardeau  is  luxuriously  housed  in  a  fine  plant  including  four  school 
buildings  and  two  dormitories,  Springfield,  with  an  annual  enrolment  of  several  hun- 
dred more  students,  has  been  obliged  to  endure  years  of  excessive  crowding  in  the  sin- 
gle structure  with  which  it  started.  It  is  a  situation  true  to  type,  for  in  1896  the  same 
institution  at  Cape  Girardeau,  with  an  annual  enrolment  then  of  three  hundred  and 
ten,  secured  an  appropriation  for  building  four  separate  halls  for  the  exclusive  use  of 
as  many  literary  societies,  when  the  school  at  Warrensburg,  enrolling  annually  over 
nine  hundred  students,  was  unable  to  secure  money  enough  to  pay  its  teachers.  A  sys- 
tem that  admits  of  such  extremes  is  bad;  the  state  is  merely  doling  out  funds  in  the 


50  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL 

dark  where  the  personal  or  sectional  pressure  is  greatest,  and  must  continue  to  do  so 
until  it  concludes  to  entrust  its  biennial  offering  for  the  training  of  teachers  to  a  sin- 
gle, central  board  competent  to  make  a  rational  distribution  on  the  basis  of  proved 
educational  requirements. 

EDUCATIONAL  DIVERSITY  OF  THE  "INSTITUTIONS 

In  their  educational  aspects  the  five  schools  are  as  diversified  as  tho  they  were  in 
separate  states.  They  are  all  dealing  with  the  same  kind  of  student  for  the  same 
final  purpose  in  the  same  state  community,  yet  their  terminology,  their  standards 
of  value,  and  their  methods  of  educational  bookkeeping  are  quite  unlike;  and  the 
content  of  their  curricula,  their  graduation  requirements,  and  their  organization  of 
fundamental  features  are  widely  divergent,  the  practice  in  each  school  expressing  either 
the  inherited  tradition  or  the  will  of  the  present  head,  modified  in  some  schools  to 
an  extent  by  the  action  of  the  faculty.  Nevertheless,  they  cannot  escape  one  another. 
When  a  student  offers  himself  to  all  in  turn,  indicating  that  he  may  be  had  by  the 
highest  bidder  for  the  uncertain  credentials  he  has  to  offer,  the  losers  naturally  suspect 
the  winner.  Three  schools  told  of  losing  students  to  other  schools  where  graduation 
was  effected  with  unexpected  speed.  One  institution  offered  flatly  in  its  catalogue  to 
meet  "whatever  favors  either  of  the  other  schools  will  grant  and  no  more.""  In  the 
matter  of  entrance  requirements  this  independent  attitude  has  had  noticeably  bad 
effect.  In  190&  two  of  the  schools  desired  to  standardize  terms  of  admission  by  accept- 
ing on  certificate  only  students  from  approved  high  schools  and  taking  others  on  exam- 
ination. The  third  preferred  to  take  in  all  alike  and  "prove  them  up,"  that  is,  admit 
them  to  class  and  throw  responsibility  on  a  teacher  anxious  to  increase  his  enrolment. 
Thus  the  first  two  were  virtually  compelled  to  adopt  that  method  or  suffer  the  con- 
sequences, and  the  high  schools  were  denied  this  much  needed  support  by  the  institu- 
tions that  should  have  done  most  to  strengthen  them. 

Loss  TO  THE  SCHOOLS  OF  CRITICAL  REVISION 

This  interplay  of  uncertain  relations  is  not  the  major  defect.  The  real  weakness  in 
the  situation  is  the  loss  to  each  institution  of  the  tonic  effect  that  would  follow  were  it 
obliged  to  keep  its  practice  overhauled  under  the  critical  eyes  of  competent  outsiders 
either  from  other  schools  or  from  the  state  department.  Such  criticism  would  require 
it  to  bring  its  methods  up  to  a  well-thought-out  standard  agreed  upon  for  all.  There 
are  such  standards  in  all  the  matters  above  mentioned,  some  of  which  are  found  exem- 
plified at  each  school,  but  they  are  checked  and  often  neutralized  either  by  the  bad 
institutional  habits  of  earlier  years,  or  by  the  radical,  undigested  innovations  intro- 
duced on  the  spur  of  the  moment  thru  the  system  of  one-man  control.  It  is  unthinkable 
that  a  modern  corporation,  doing  in  each  of  five  Missouri  towns  a  business  requiring 
from  five  hundred  to  one  thousand  employees  in  each  plant,  would  tolerate  the  mean- 
ingless and  arbitrary  variety  in  methods  directed  at  identical  ends  that  presents  itself 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  51 

in  these  five  normal  schools.  Some  years  ago,  to  terminate  the  existing  chaos,  the 
state  inaugurated  in  each  school  a  standard  system  of  financial  accounting  and  stopped 
there.  Meanwhile,  the  vastly  more  important  interest,  that  for  which  the  schools  exist 
and  for  which  they  should  be  held  most  strictly  to  account,  namely,  their  educational 
procedure,  goes  without  scrutiny,  check,  or  control  of  any  sort  save  by  the  one  man 
whose  apparent  success  and  public  recognition  have  no  relation,  direct  or  indirect,  to 
the  proved  excellence  of  his  work.  In  the  name  of  "liberty"  the  real  emphasis  is  placed 
on  "difference;"  whereas  in  all  other  processes,  the  effective  procedure  is  first  to  agree 
on  the  best  way  the  thing  is  to  be  done,  and  then  put  the  emphasis  squarely  on  the 
quality  of  the  work.  Under  the  present  system  of  local  boards  such  cooperation  is 
impracticable. 

THE  NOEMAL  SCHOOLS  versus  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY 

The  absence  of  material  and  educational  coordination  of  the  normal  schools  among 
themselves  is  thus  a  serious  and  expensive  defect.  These  same  disadvantages  are  ac- 
centuated, however,  in  the  active  friction  and  lack  of  adjustment  between  the  five 
normal  schools  on  the  one  hand  and  the  state  university  on  the  other.  The  normal 
schools,  altho  virtually  identical  in  scope,  are  relatively  non-competitive  by  reason 
of  their  districting.  The  state's  one  great  centre  of  higher  education,  on  the  other 
hand,  almost  from  its  inception,  has  exercised  the  function  of  preparing  teachers — for 
years  many  elementary,  of  late  mostly  high  school  teachers  and  administrative  officers. 
Between  these  two  institutional  groups  competition  is  inevitable  unless  forestalled 
either  by  an  adequate  controlling  organization  or  by  voluntary  coordination  on  the 
part  of  the  responsible  educational  leaders.  The  former  does  not  exist;  the  latter  failed 
up  to  1916.  Even  under  the  entente  then  arranged  it  exists  only  in  minor  tho  impor- 
tant respects;  in  all  matters  affecting  the  field  or  scope  of  operations  the  traditional 
autonomy  prevails.  In  the  cases  of  at  least  two  normal  schools  this  autonomy  means 
frank  competition  with  the  university — competition  first  in  filling  positions  in  high 
schools,  and  second  in  securing  the  attendance  of  students  for  a  four-year  college 
course.  Offering  as  they  have  elaborate  elective  programs  of  a  general  character,  the 
schools  at  both  Kirksville  and  Cape  Girardeau  must  naturally  exert  themselves  to  fill 
the  high  school  vacancies  in  their  respective  districts  to  the  exclusion  of  students  from 
the  university,  and  can  hardly  see  without  regret  the  attendance  at  the  university  of 
students  who  might  be  taking  college  work  with  them.  The  school  at  Warrensburg, 
altho  it  has  prepared  a  larger  number  of  high  school  teachers  than  either  of  the  other 
two,  has  not  so  clearly  assumed  this  attitude;  while  Springfield  and  Maryville  have 
until  recently  devoted  themselves  to  the  supply  of  elementary  teachers.  With  due 
growth  in  size  or  a  slight  shift  in  personal  relations,  however,  there  is  no  reason  to 
expect  that  these  schools  also  will  not  aggressively  press  their  claims  to  the  high  school 
positions  within  their  districts. 


52  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL 

SOURCES  OF  RIVALRY 

This  competition  is  the  logical  outcome  of  the  historical  development  traced  else- 
where.1 The  university,  preparing  the  teachers  for  the  largest  and  strongest  high 
schools  and  standardizing  the  conditions  surrounding  them,  has  projected  its  influ- 
ence steadily  deeper;  the  normal  school,  training  the  teachers  in  the  smaller  high 
schools,  has  as  steadily  strengthened  its  courses  for  this  purpose  as  small  high  schools 
have  multiplied,  and  its  influence  has  mounted  with  their  growth.  At  last  the  two 
forces  have  met,  and  the  problem  of  their  mutual  adjustment  is  as  yet  unsolved.2 

One  of  the  university's  most  effective  aids  in  developing  its  tributary  high  schools 
has  been  its  high  school  inspector.  For  the  admission  of  its  graduates  to  the  univer- 
sity without  examination,  the  approved  high  school  has  been  obliged  to  satisfy  a  con- 
stantly increasing  list  of  requirements  in  all  points  aifecting  its  efficiency,  including 
the  training  of  its  teachers.  This  has  been  an  incalculable  benefit  to  every  high  school 
community — a  benefit  difficult  of  attainment  byany  other  method :  yet  the  operations 
of  this  inspector  easily  become  the  object  of  suspicion  by  the  normal  schools  that  are 
desirous  of  placing  their  graduates  in  positions  that  he  inspects.  Where  there  is  strong 
difference  of  opinion  as  to  what  constitutes  -satisfactory  training,  such  as  has  long 
existed  between  the  university  and  some  of  the  normal  schools,  serious  conflict  may 
and  does  arise  out  of  a  perfectly  sincere  attitude  on  both  sides.  To  represent  their 
special  interests  the  normal  schools  have  had  recourse  to  a  "field  agent,"  either  to 
serve  expressly  as  a  drummer  for  students  and  positions,  or  to  unite  that  function 
with  certain  more  dignified  extension  duties.  One  of  these  officers  professes  to  know 
intuitively  which  youth  belongs  in  the  university  and  which  in  the  normal  school, 
and  to  act  accordingly,  but  promoters  cannot  always  be  counted  upon  to  decide 
infallibly  in  such  matters.  Aside  from  these  official  representatives,  the  instructors 
and  officers  in  all  institutions  acting  as  lecturers,  commencement  speakers,  and  so 
forth,  conduct  an  indirect  and,  in  itself,  doubtless  wholesome  propaganda;  but  to 
have  these  educational  servants  of  the  state  working  at  cross  purposes  in  pressing 
the  claims  of  one  institution  rather  than  another — both  state  supported — is  bewil- 
dering and  unfair  to  the  student  as  well  as  wasteful  to  the  state  and  hurtful  to  its 
real  educational  interests. 

With  one  notable  exception  the  official  literature  of  the  six  institutions  appears 
to  have  been  restrained  and  considerate  in  tone.  The  publications  of  the  school  at 
Kirksville,  altho  intended  for  the  use  of  students,  have  been  consistently  devoted  to 
partisan  efforts.  The  alleged  virtues  and  achievements  of  this  particular  school  have 
been  glowingly  set  forth,  with  attacks  and  reflections  both  direct  and  indirect  upon 
another  state  institution.  Competition  for  high  school  students  and  positions  is  con- 
ceived to  be  the  normal  condition :  "If  the  universities  should  gain  control  of  the  high 
schools,  then  the  so-called  small  colleges,  the  normal  schools,  and  the  various  inde- 

1  See  pages  85-87. 
a  See  pages  89-98. 


THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  53 

pendent  technical  schools  would  cease  to  have  the  means  of  competition,  and  the  uni- 
versities would  be  all-powerful."1 

It  might  reasonably  be  expected  that  sincere  efforts  for  educational  readjustment 
would  be  taken  to  the  proper  agency,  the  legislature,  without  seeking  to  prejudice  stu- 
dents by  polemics  against  a  sister  school.  Such  competitive  exploitation  should  be 
impossible,  and  would  be  were  all  institutions  subject  to  review  and  coordination  by 
a  single  authority. 

EFFECTS  OF  INSTITUTIONAL  COMPETITION 

Outside  of  the  institutions  themselves,  educational  and  other  interests  in  the  state 
at  large  are  influenced  to  no  slight  extent  by  sympathy  with  one  party  or  the  other. 
Certain  towns  are  practically  closed  to  one  school  or  another  because  of  a  superin- 
tendent drawn  from  an  opposing  institution;  influential  school  board  members,  biased 
by  trivial  personal  attachments  —  a  child  who  has  attended,  a  good  speech,  or  a  favor 
done  by  a  representative  —  direct  the  patronage  regardless  of  the  merits  of  the  appli- 
cants. The  state  superintendent  of  public  schools,  an  officer  who  should  make  effective 
disposal  of  all  the  educational  energies  in  the  state,  necessarily  becomes  more  or  less 
partisan.  If,  as  in  several  recent  cases,  he  be  a  man  without  college  or  university  train- 
ing, he  feels  himself  largely  out  of  sympathy  with  these  higher  institutions ;  if,  on  the 
-other  hand,  he  be  a  university  man  without  normal  school  experience,  he  and  his  office 
are  likely  to  be  distrusted  by  the  institutions  with  which  he  has  most  to  do.  Theo- 
retically he  is  a  Republican  or  a  Democrat ;  actually  he  is  pro-university  or  pro-normal 
school,  or  so  considered;  to  control  the  superintendency  is  therefore  worth  the  effort 
of  both  sides. 

Under  present  conditions  it  is  to  the  interest  of  each  and  every  institution  to  push 
its  claims  before  the  legislature;  this  results  in  the  maintenance  of  a  sort  of  legisla- 
tive lobby.  It  is  not  a  long  step  from  the  legitimate  presentation  of  the  needs  of  an 
institution  to  the  "log  rolling"  that  bases  success  on  efforts  of  quite  another  nature, 
and  it  is  declared  by  competent  observers  that  the  tendency  to  take  this  step  is  al- 
ready strong  in  Missouri.  To  what  extent  this  is  true  it  is  difficult  to  say,  but  with 
two  sets  of  institutions  sharply  and  increasingly  competitive  in  an  important  field, 
there  is  the  prospect  that,  as  in  some  other  states,  the  people  and  their  representa- 
tives will  gradually  segregate  into  "pro-university"  and  "pro-normal  school"  groups, 
and  that  other  legislation  will  be  affected  or  determined  by  this  division. 

THE  LOCAL  BOAEB  SYSTEM  RESPONSIBLE 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  that  the  conditions  and  tendencies  noted  above 
are  unwholesome,  and  that  they  are  plainly  traceable  to  the  present  system  of  inde- 
pendent local  boards.  To  sum  up  the  defects  of  these  boards  it  may  be  said:  (1)  that 
in  practice,  if  not  in  theory,  they  may,  and  frequently  do,  change  too  rapidly;  (2)  that 

1  Bulletin  (Supplementary),  KvrJcsville,  September,  1907,  page  1. 


54  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL 

owing  to  Ignorance  of  their  true  duties  their  members  almost  inevitably  interfere,  to 
the  injury  of  the  institutions,  in  matters  that  the  state  has  assigned  to  its  paid  ex- 
perts ;  (3)  that  where  their  members  do  not  thus  interfere,  their  duties  are  so  nominal 
as  not  to  interest  men  of  the  highest  ability  and  public  standing;  (4)  that  for  political 
considerations  they  are  capable  of  disregarding  their  educational  obligations;  (5)  that 
lacking  a  competent  and  convincing  educational  adviser  who  has  the  good  of  the 
whole  state  in  view,  they  may  easily  ignore  the  local  head  of  an  institution  and  make 
serious  mistakes,  or  yet  more  easily  be  induced  by  an  enthusiastic  president  to  follow 
a  course  that  is  either  futile  or  detrimental  to  the  state  as  a  whole;  (6)  that  the  system 
breaks  down  completely  when  it  is  desired  to  coordinate  the  work  of  several  institu- 
tions according  to  one  consistent  policy.  This  is  shown  in  irrational  appropriations,  in 
pointless  and  wasteful  divergences  in  practice,  in  the  intx*oduction,  by  irresponsible 
officers,  of  arbitrary  innovations  directly  affecting  other  schools,  and  in  the  destruc- 
tive rivalry  that  wastes  both  funds  and  energy,  bewilders  the  student,  breeds  friction 
among  public  schools  and  their  officers,  and  injects  wholly  unnecessary  partisanship 
into  legislative  discussion.  In  short,  under  such  conditions,  education  becomes  not  a 
matter  of  statesmanship  but  of  politics. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  best  that  can  be  said  in  defence  of  the  local  boards  is  in- 
conclusive. It  is  urged  that  by  this  system  more  men  are  kept  actively  interested  in 
the  schools  than  the  few  who  might  constitute  the  central  authority  in  some  other 
plan.  This  is  not  necessarily  true,  for  local  committees,  made  up  of  women  as  well  as 
men,  could  be  designated  for  the  advisory  inspection  and  genuine  promotion  of  the 
school  in  the  community  without  investing  them  with  power  to  maintain  an  irritat- 
ing and  useless  interference  or  allowing  them  by  their  very  existence  to  block  the 
realization  of  a  sound  policy  for  the  whole  state.  Beyond!"  this  there  is1  little  to  urge. 
Poor  as  the  system  is  in  general,  and  bad  as  it  is  in  some  particular  spots,  the  main 
fault  lies  in  its  weakness.  When  established  it  was  regarded  by  the  best  contempo- 
rary opinion  as  much  less  effective  than  the  centralized  system  that  it  displaced, 
and  the  experience  of  forty  years  and  of  other  states  has  amply  borne  out  the  earlier 
judgment. 


B.  PROPOSALS  FOR  A  BETTER  ORGANIZATION  OF  PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING  FOR  TEACHERS 

How  can  Missouri  most  profitably  administer  the  preparation  of  her  teachers  ? 

This  is  an  important  and  difficult  question :  important  because  there  is  much  at 
stake;  difficult  because  changed  conditions  everywhere  demand  a  fresh  answer  for 
which  no  American  state  has  as  yet  worked  out  a  wholly  satisfactory  precedent.  From 
a  material,  social,  and  intellectual  standpoint,  Missouri  has  been  transformed  in  fifty 
years;  her  needs  to-day  are  radically  different  from  those  that  dominated  her  reorgan- 
ization after  the  Civil  War.  Her  possibilities  are  measured,  furthermore,  not  merely 
by  the  best  that  any  other  commonwealth  possesses,  but  by  the  degree  of  skill  with 


PROPOSALS  FOR  BETTER  ORGANIZATION  55 

which  the  lessons  learned  elsewhere  can  be  turned  to  account.  A  state  should  by  all 
means  move  cautiously  and  surely  in  new  educational  adjustments;  but  every  pro- 
gressive community  must  expect  sometimes  to  lead  the  way  in  making  trial  of  promis- 
ing means  of  advancement. 

PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS  A  HOMOGENEOUS  UNDERTAKING 

A  completely  serviceable  administration  of  the  preparation  of  teachers  in  Missouri 
probably  cannot  be  attained  without  reorganization.  We  have  seen  how  the  existing 
institutions  were  set  up  independently.  Proceeding  from  small,  tho  for  the  time  ade- 
quate beginnings,  they  have  grown  with  the  people's  growth,  and  now  hamper  one 
another  by  their  unrelated  efforts.  The  present  need  is  to  coordinate  and  blend  them 
into  a  single,  powerful,  and  smoothly  working  instrument  for  the  great  service  that 
they  are  expected  to  perform.  Leaving  the  two  great  cities  out  of  account,  it  may  be 
said  that,  at  present,  the  state  is  preparing  its  teachers  thru  seven  unrelated,  tax-sup- 
ported agencies.  The  university,  under  a  board  of  curators,  has  prepared  or  shared 
the  preparation  of  many  instructors  for  the  strongest  and  largest  high  schools.  The 
five  normal  schools,  under  their  several  local  boards,  have  prepared  or  shared  the  pre- 
paration of  about  half  of  the  high  school  teachers,  especially  for  the  small  schools, 
and  two-thirds  of  the  elementary  teachers  in  graded  schools;  they  have  also  exerted 
more  or  less  influence  over  nearly  half  of  the  vast  mass  of  rural  school  teachers.  The 
high  school  training  classes,  under  the  control  of  the  state  superintendent,  are  sup- 
posed to  prepare  exclusively  for  the  rural  schools,  but  have  not  been  carefully  regu- 
lated for  that  purpose.  There  can  be  no  reasonable  question  that  better  results  than 
are  now  accomplished  under  these  several  managements  could  be  secured  under  one 
control.  To  educate  teachers  for  the  public  schools  is  essentially  one  homogeneous 
task,  and  in  communities  as  great  and  as  closely  knit  as  a  modern  state  like  Missouri, 
this  function  could  profitably  be  unified  in  expert  hands. 

A  REORGANIZED  UNIVERSITY 

The  main  question  is,  of  course,  the  relation  between  such  a  unified  system  and 
the  present  institutions.  In  Missouri  the  answer  to  this  question  is  greatly  facilitated 
by  the  nature  of  the  situation.  The  five  normal  schools  are  similar  institutions  of 
like  aims  and  traditions,  and  are  well  distributed  over  the  state.  They  are  at  pres- 
ent offering  a  great  variety  of  elective  curricula,  but  all  include  the  four-year  cur- 
riculum parallel  with  the  regular  four-year  curriculum  at  the  university;  none  has  at- 
tempted to  give  graduate  courses.  In  spite  of  the  considerable  amount  of  secondary 
work  now  required  of  them,  it  is  obvious  that  in  the  broadest  sense  these  professional 
training  schools,  hitherto  by  accident  described  as  "normal  schools,"  are  already,  in 
spirit  and  purpose,  essentially  a  part  of  that  equipment  for  higher  and  professional 
education  that  constitutes  a  university,  whether  so  organized  or  not.  There  are  ex- 
cellent reasons  why  it  would  be  wise  to  recognize  and  confirm  this  fact  by  incorpo- 


56  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL 

rating  the  present  normal  schools  together  with  the  university  school  of  education  as 
a  state  Division  of  Education  fully  organized  and  equipped  to  provide  for  all  phases 
of  the  professional  training  of  teachers  for  the  public  schools  of  the  state.  The  normal 
schools  would  thus  become  State  Colleges  of  Education  within  the  university  and 
subject  to  the  same  consideration  as  any  other  branches  of  that  institution. 
-  Longer  to  maintain  the  distinction  between  the  university  and  the  normal  school 
as  representing  a  distinguishable  difference  in  grade  or  quality  of  instruction  is,  in 
the  cases  of  the  best  normal  schools  in  this  country,  purely  factitious;  and  its  eradi- 
cation would  be  the  best  possible  reason  for  requiring  of  inferior  schools  a  genuine 
enforcement  of  the  standards  to  which  most  of  them  now  profess  their  adherence.  In 
the  numerous  American  normal  schools  now  doing  thoroughly  standard  work,  the 
instructors  have  as  broad  and  as  intensive  training  as  those  giving  instruction  to  stu- 
dents of  equal  advancement  in  good  colleges  and  universities,  and  are  quite  frequently 
superior  in  this  respect.  In  the  content  of  instruction  the  normal  school  provides 
a  specialized  professional  organization  of  material  that  in  its  field  is  as  significant 
technically  as  any  work  in  medicine  or  law.  The  teaching  in  first  class  normal  schools 
is  probably  in  advance  of  that  to  be  found  in  the  ordinary  arts  colleges  or  even  in 
the  better  medical  and  law  schools.  Both  institutions  use  the  same  tools — books, 
both  for  text  and  reference,  laboratories,  and  collections — frequently  making  them 
for  each  other ;  both  seek  the  same  scientific  standards  of  achievement ;  both  con- 
duct original  enquiries  and  "surveys,"  tho  in  the  university  this  latter  purpose  neces- 
sarily stands  forth  more  clearly.  Furthermore,  the  interchange  of  personnel  is  con- 
stant: students  in  large  numbers  proceed  from  the  normal  schools  to  the  universities, 
not  for  different,  but  primarily  for  more  advanced  work  than  the  former  are  able 
to  offer;  on  the  other  hand,  students  from  the  universities,  or  those  who  have  had 
both  types  of  training,  return  to  the  normal  school  as  instructors,  bringing  the  ways 
and  ideals  of  the  university  with  them.  For  twenty  years  the  two  institutions  have 
been  more  and  more  acutely  conscious  of  each  other  as  they  have  moved  in  con  veiling 
lines  to  the  same  goal :  the  normal  school  proving  to  the  university  the  vitality  and  effi- 
cacy of  a  central  professional  purpose  in  preparing  teachers,  the  university  serving  the 
normal  school  as  a  steady  and  beneficent  critic  while  profiting  by  its  progress.  The  nor- 
mal schools  represent  the  only  type  of  higher  professional  education  not  yet  formally 
included  in  the  university  group.  Fusion  of  the  two  in  one  organization  is  reasonable, 
and  would  manifestly  promote  the  fundamental  integrity  of  the  state's  educational  life. 

A  PROFESSIONAL  BOARD  OF  EXECUTIVES 

The  plan  suggested  would  at  once  make  it  possible  to  consolidate  all  of  the  state's 
teacher- training  agencies  under  one  educational  direction,  as  well  as  under  a  single 
formal  government.  With  this  in  view  the  affairs  of  these  five  colleges,  together  with 
the  university  school  of  education,  should  be  placed  under  the  direction  of  a  new 
board  consisting  of  the  heads  of  these  six  units,  with  whom  should  sit  also  the  presi- 


PROPOSALS  FOR  BETTER  ORGANIZATION  57 

dent  or  chancellor  of  the  university  and  the  state  superintendent  of  public  schools. 
This  board  would  constitute  not  merely  the  responsible  authority  for  the  manage- 
ment of  certain  institutions.  It  would  be  a  board  of  expert  men  in  complete  charge 
of  the  preparation  and  supply  of  all  teachers  for  the  state,  and  the  regulation  of  such 
lateral  interests  as  the  high  school  training  classes  in  their  professional  aspects  should 
be  under  its  control.  Its  decisions  would  be  reported  to  the  board  of  curators  of  the- 
university  for  approval,  and  might  of  course  be  vetoed  by  it.  Such  action,  however, 
would  certainly  be  rare;  the  habit  of  a  competent  group  would  be  to  study  a  mea- 
sure with  such  thoroughness  as  to  admit  of  but  one  conclusion  before  seeking  final 
approval  thereon. 

A  board  for  the  purposes  here  indicated  should  be  ensured  the  power,  the  i-espon- 
sibility,  and  the  necessary  procedure  for  reaching  reliable  results.  It  should  nominate 
the  personnel  of  instruction  and  administration,  including  the  presidents  and  dean, 
in  the  component  colleges  and  school  of  education.  It  should  propose  policies  and 
regulations  for  administrative  action.  With  the  assistance  of  the  state  department 
of  education  it  should  study  unremittingly  the  dimensions  and  character  of  its  prob- 
lem in  the  number  and  kind  of  teachers  needed  in  the  state.  In  cooperation  with  the 
several  faculties,  and  with  their  approval,  it  should  work  out  and  revise  curricula  to 
meet  these  needs.  It  should  consider  and  propose  the  creation  or  adaptation  of  material 
facilities  with  the  single  purpose  of  solving  in  the  best  possible  fashion  for  the  state 
the  problem  of  teacher  supply.  The  expert  character  of  its  members,  and  their  relief 
from  local  and  political  demands,  their  opportunities  for  securing  abundant  accu- 
rate information,  the  elimination  of  competition,  and  the  requirement  of  frequent 
(at  least  monthly)  sessions  for  careful  discussion  and  planning  would  go  far  toward 
an  assurance  that  the  ultimate  solution  of  their  problem  would  be  correct. 

EFFECTS  OF  PROPOSED  REORGANIZATION 

The  form  of  organization  here  described  has  certain  suggestive  implications: 
(I)  The  heads  of  the  several  institutions,  cooperating  as  executives  of  their  respec- 
tive colleges  under  the  new  plan,  instead  of  being  semi-political  promoters  with  at- 
tention divided  between  the  local  board  and  the  legislature,  would  become  strictly 
educational  officers  concerned  solely  with  their  individual  institutions  as  carrying  out 
a  definite  state  policy  framed  by  them  and  for  which  they  were  responsible.  Their  ten- 
ure would  be  permanent  and  secure  instead  of  biennial  and  precarious  as  now;  their 
power  in  the  state  would  be  greater  and  their  judgment  surer  because  of  constant 
mutual  criticism  and  support;  the  position  would  be  attractive  to  trained  students 
of  education  and  to  men  of  first-rate  ability. 

(&)  The  teachers  in  the  present  normal  schools  would  at  once  acquire 'fall  collegiate 
or  university  status;  salaries,  hours  of  work,  and  pension  privileges,  as  well  as  quali- 
fications of  training  and  experience,  would  be  regulated  for  aH  alike;  there  would  be 
but  one  fraternity  of  state-employed  servants  in  higher  education.  The  students  like- 


58  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL 

wise  would  be  relieved  of  invidious  distinctions,  both  actual  and  alleged,  between 
themselves  and  regular  college  or  university  students.  In  the  interests  of  solidarity 
in  higher  education  the  university  could  well  afford  to  welcome  the  alumni  of  the  nor- 
mal schools  to  such  standing  as  their  varying  attainments  might  justify, 

(3)  Administrative  differences  would  immediately  disappear  in  favor  of  one  thor- 
oughly studied  procedure  worked  out  and  applied  in  joint  consultation.  Admissions 
could  be  handled  from  one  central  office,  possibly  that  of  the  state  superintendent, 
thus  securing  a  just  and  uniform  treatment  of  credentials.  A  common  terminology,  a 
uniform  grading  and  credit  system,  would  convince  both  teacher  and  pupil  that  he 
was  not  a  victim  of  local  idiosyncrasy,  but  had  received  standard  treatment,  open  to 
objection  possibly  on  its  merits  but  applied  to  all  alike. 

(4)  The  curricula  would  be  unified  and  harmonized,  and  their  administration  placed 
on  a  rational  basis.  Since  all  schools  and  teachers  would  be  of  equal  standing*  it  would 
make  no  more  difference  whether  a  certain  curriculum  for  kindergartners  or  for  high 
school  teachers  were  given  at  one  college  or  another,  than  it  would  if  they  were  given 
in  different  buildings  on  the  same  campus.  Such  matters  would  be  determined  on  the 
merits  of  local  need  and  availability  in  view  of  all  considerations  and  without  insti- 
tutional prejudice  or  jealousy.  A  large  financial  saving  would  certainly  accrue  at  this 
point.  Great  advantage  for  the  curriculum  would  result,  too,  from  the  increased  flexi- 
bility of  the  staff  of  instruction.  With  intimate  association  of  all  colleges  in  the  uni- 
versity, instructors  could  readily  be  assigned  from  one  to  another  for  special  courses  or 
lectures,  thus  utilizing  fully  each  teacher's  best  powers.  Teachers  in  other  departments 
of  the  university  would  be  available  for  the  same  purpose.  Again,  with  associated  ad- 
ministration, the  school  of  education,  which  would  doubtless  develop  primarily  as  a 
research  or  graduate  school,  would  be  in  an  admirable,  in  fact  the  only  logical  posi- 
tion to  assist  and  be  aided  by  the  various  enquiries  undertaken  at  the  five  collegiate 
centres.  Instructors  in  the  colleges  would  then  be  in  close  and  continual  contact  with 
this  work  of  the  graduate  school,  where  they  could  perfect  their  training  or  cooperate 
on  special  problems. 

(5)  Outside  of  the  institutions,  the  chief  effect  of  the  proposed  plan  would  be  to 
relieve  the  state  of  the  element  that  most  disturbs  and  confuses  its  representatives 
in  providing  for  higher  education.  At  present  each  separate  school  demands  all  that 
it  dares,  in  the  hope  of  finally  obtaining  enough  to  allow  it  to  operate  and  expand. 
Budgets  are  made  out  not  on  educational  grounds,  but  with  an  eye  to  institutional 
success,  and  the  arbiter  as  to  what  these  various  interests — some  genuine,  some  fanci- 
ful, some  real  but  inflated —  shall  receive,  is  a  legislative  committee  of  laymen  wholly 
uninformed  except  by  the  glowing  advice  of  the  interested  local  board  members  and 
presidents.1  By  the  proposed  plan  the  budget  for  the  training  of  teachers  would  be 
fully  worked  out  jointly  in  the  board  of  presidents;  the  chancellor  and  the  board  of 

1  A  representative  of  the  enquiry  was  present  at  one  visit  of  the  state  junketing  committee.  Surrounded  by  mem- 
bers of  the  local  board  of  regents  and  by  school  officers,  these  gentlemen  went  thru  buildings  and  grounds,  made 
speeches  at  the  student  assembly,  and  were  very  uneconomically  entertained  by  the  home  economics  department 


PROPOSALS  FOR  BETTER  ORGANIZATION  59 

curators  would  be  responsible  for  its  suitable  incorporation  in  the  budget  of  the  uni- 
versity, and  the  proposals  for  financing  the  state's  higher  education  would  come  as 
a  logical  whole  before  the  state's  government.  With  its  support  merged  thus  in  the 
general  budget,  the  normal  school  would  find  immediate  relief  from  the  pressure  for 
numbers  that  now  exercises  such  a  baneful  influence  over  its  educational  policies.  Ap- 
propriations could  be  unspecified  as  to  their  detailed  application,  which  would  be 
subject  to  the  discretion  of  the  board  of  executives.  It  would  be  possible,  for  example,! 
by  economies  in  other  quarters,  for  a  central  control  to  relieve  the  pressure  of  num- 
bers at  Springfield  even  on  a  reduced  total  appropriation.  Such  an  administration 
would  convince  the  state  that  within  the  general  scope  of  its  desires,  its  funds  were 
being  wisely  distributed  by  those  who  were  engaged  "because  they  knew  best  how  to 
do  it, 

(6)  To  the  state  at  large  the  benefit  of  having  a  single  unified  scheme  of  higher 
education  would  be  manifold.  The  student  fresh  from  high  school  and  anxious  about 
his  future  would  receive  consistent  and  unbiased  advice  at  any  institution  and  in  all 
of  the  state's  official  educational  literature,  as  to  where  he  could  best  go  for  what  he 
needed.  Instead  of  being  lured  by  personal  and  printed  eulogies  to  help  swell  the  roll 
of  this  or  that  school,  he  would  be  told  candidly  what  each  school  was  equipped  to 
give  him,  and  would  be  urged  to  get  the  best  either  within  or  without  the  state.  Each. 
school  would  be  a  stronger  institution.  When  confronted  with  the  alternatives,  the 
people  of  Missouri  prefer  teachers  prepared  by  institutions  that  ensure  nationally 
recognized  standards  of  excellence  to  schools  that  may  be  swayed  this  way  and  that 
by  local  pressure,  and  that  remain  provincial  because  they  lack  the  detached  point 
of  view  that  enables  them  to  lead  their  communities.  Furthermore,  the  popular  effect 
of  an  orderly,  harmonious  scheme  of  education  is  superior  to  that  resulting  from  in- 
stitutional strife.  Missouri  has  already  seen  partisans  6f  the  university  and  partisans 
of  the  normal  schools  lined  up  in  opposition  on  questions  that  were  not  issues  between 
the  schools.  This  tendency  is  likely  to  increase  as  the  normal  schools  grow  into  more 
and  more  effective  rivals  of  the  university,  until  wholly  irrelevant  decisions  will  be 
reached  according  as  the  "university  vote"  or  the  "normal  school  vote"  can  be  more 
effectively  marshaled.  This  outcome  ought  to  be  avoided. 

(7)  It  is  worth  noting,  finally,  that  an  organization  in  Missouri  of  the  nature  above 
described,  if  carried  thru  fully  and  in  good  faith,  would  mark  a  new  epoch  in  Amer- 
ican institutional  life  in  this  field.  It  would  serve  to  seal  the  fast-closing  breach 
between  two  groups  of  institutions  that  have  stood  aloof  in  feud-like  attitude  for 
many  years.  Not  all  states,  to  be  sure,  are  in  a  position  to  bring  about  such  a  change. 
States  in  which  the  normal  schools  are,  and  must  long  remain^  chiefly  secondary  in- 
stitutions would  scarcely  come  within  the  scope  of  this  plan.  States  having  no  state 
university  would  be  confined  to  organizing  their  training  agencies  in  a  single  pro- 
cm  which  the  schools  lean  heavily  in  such  events.  An  agreeable  understanding  with  the  legislature  was  no  doubt 
promoted,  but  as  a  means  for  determining  the  character  of  the  school  and  its  operations  with  a  view  to  support,  the 
occasion  is,  of  course,  quite  absurd. 


60  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL 

fessional  group.  But  where  there  exist  side  by  side  a  state  university  and  one  or  more 
professional  institutions  of  collegiate  grade,  all  devoted  to  the  same  purpose,  there 
would  seem  to  be  little  question  of  the  wisdom  of  incorporating  all  units  that  are 
functionally  similar  into  one  organic  whole  in  so  far  as  their  direction  and  control  are 
concerned* 

The  one  "insuperable"  objection  to  the  proposal  that  has  been  made  by  normal 
school  men  is  that  "the  university  would  swallow  up  the  normal  schools ;"  on  the  other 
hand,  the  friends  of  the  university  regard  the  plan  as  impracticable  because  "the  nor- 
mal schools  would  swallow  up  the  university."  To  an  outside  observer  it  would  appear 
to  be  much  to  the  advantage  of  the  state  were  this  mutual  repast  to  take  place  as  soon 
as  possible;  whatever  may  result  from  the  process  should  then  devote  its  undistracted 
attention  to  giving  Missouri  an  adequate  supply  of  first  class  teachers.  One  normal 
school  head  agreed  that  the  plan  was  excellent,  but  thought  it  could  not  be  carried 
out  without  a  completely  new  set  of  normal  school  presidents.  If  the  plan  is  excellent 
and  if  this  opinion  is  true,  comment  is  unnecessary. 

THE  CITY  TRAINING  SCHOOLS  SHOULD  BE  INCLUDED 

It  has  been  a  question  up  to  this  point  of  establishing  a  vigorous  unity  of  movement 
and  purpose  for  the  six  state  institutions — the  five  normal  schools  and  the  univer- 
sity. The  reorganization  should  not  stop  there.  Missouri  is  peculiar  in  that  a  pre- 
dominantly rural  population  is  sealed  up  behind  two  great  municipal  gateways  of 
national  importance.  Between  these  cities  and  the  state  the  interests  and  obligations 
are  mutual;  they  are  parts  one  of  another,  and  every  important  policy  of  either  should 
aim  to  recognize  and  intensify  rather  than  weaken  this  solidarity. 

In  the  work  of  education  the  one  feature  that  may  properly  assume  paramount  im- 
portance in  thus  binding  city  and  country  together,  the  one  responsibility  which  the 
state  should  reserve  consistently  and  universally  to  herself,  is  the  teacher.  Local  ex- 
penditure for  supplies  and  equipment  may  vary  within  limits,  but  the  animating 
spirit  of  the  state's  educational  system,  be  it  rural,  or  municipal,  or  metropolitan, 
should  be  one  and  the  same.  Practically  considered,  it  is  a  somewhat  remote  ideal  that 
the  district  school  teacher  in  an  obscure  village  should  possess  the  same  training  as 
the  teacher  in  the  well-developed  schools  at  St.  Louis.  Nevertheless,  that  is  the  ideal 
of  American  democratic  education,  and  the  avenue  to  its  ultimate  attainment  is  plain 
enough :  Generous  state  expenditures  for  better  teaching,  and  state  control  of  all  state 
moneys  so  expended.  While  the  state  has  been  slowly  building  up  its  conviction  in 
favor  of  a  policy  of  normal  school  support,  St.  Louis  was  compelled  to  embark  alone 
upon  her-  own  program  of  intensive  training.  Now,  however,  the  state  is  fully  com- 
mitted; she  desires  the  best  possible  training  for  her  teachers  everywhere.  And  in  the 
reorganization  of  her  facilities  for  this  purpose,  a  reorganization  that  cannot  be  long 
postponed,  the  support  and  control  of  ample  training  facilities  for  her  cities  should 
be  willingly  assumed.  There  can  be  little  question  that  in  this  respect  the  legislation 


PROPOSALS  FOR  BETTER  ORGANIZATION  61 

of  1915  was  a  mistake.  Here  for  the  first  time  the  state  turned  over  to  St.  Louis  and 
to  Kansas  City  considerable  appropriations  for  local  training  of  teachers,  and  aban- 
doned all  right  of  control  and  supervision  as  to  how  the  money  should  be  spent.  The 
inrooting  of  such  a  policy  means  the  perpetuation  of  these  two  great  centres  as  vir- 
tual islands  in  the  educational  life  of  the  state.  In  the  commonwealth  of  ideas  these 
two  cities  propose  henceforth  increasingly  to  walk  apart  and  therefore  aloof  from  the 
state  at  large.  This  would  be  a  misfortune,  and  the  way  to  avoid  it  is  for  the  state  to 
guarantee  on  its  own  account  teachers  that  shall  be  completely  satisfactory  to  the 
cities.  The  claim  of  the  cities  is  just — the  state  owes  them  funds  for  this  purpose; 
but  with  these  funds  to  allow  the  cities  to  wall  themselves  off  intellectually  is  utterly 
indefensible,  and  to  train  up  for  themselves  alone  a  closed  and  locally  privileged 
class  of  teachers  has  just  this  effect. 

If  the  State  of  Missouri  were  to  own  and  control  as  part  of  her  training  system  a 
first  class  four-year  college  for  teachers  in  St.  Louis,  drawing  students  chiefly  from 
St.  Louis,  but  accessible  on  equal  terms  from  the  state  at  large,  and  sending  gradu- 
ates both  to  city  and  town,  the  immediate  reaction  throughout  the  other  state  schools 
would  alone  be  worth  the  cost.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  reason  why  such  a  school, 
operating  in  close  sympathy  with  the  local  school  authorities,  should  not  be  fully  as 
effective  as  the  present  institution  controlled  wholly  by  the  city.  As  a  constituent  unit 
in  a  Division  of  Education  of  the  state  university,  suggested  above,  such  a  school 
would  virtually  set  the  pace,  and  would  constantly  and  powerfully  influence  educa- 
tion all  over  the  state.  It  is  true,  of  course,  that  on  the  part  of  the  city  a  certain 
intimate  sense  of  proprietorship  in  its  local  training  agency  would  be  missed.  This 
would  be  more  than  offset,  however,  by  the  soundness  of  a  situation  that  conceives 
the  people  of  the  state  to  be  essentially  one,  and  that,  while  providing  effectively  for 
local  demands,  holds  each  part  responsible  for  promoting  the  general  movement  for- 
ward. For  these  reasons  a  state-supported  college  in  St.  Louis,  and  possibly  another 
in  Kansas  City,  should  be  included  in  the  proposed  university  system,  having  their 
directors  members  of  the  board  of  administration  and  coordinate  with  the  heads  of 
the  other  state  colleges  of  education. 

VoLUNTAEY  CoOPEEATION 

Pending  a  complete  readjustment  of  relations,  an  existing  movement  toward  volun- 
tary cooperation  demands  more  than  passing  attention.  The  story  of  earlier  attempts 
on  the  part  of  the  state  normal  schools  to  act  in  unison  has  already  been  told.1  The 
lack  of  any  real  inducement  for  these  combinations,  aside  from  personal  sanction, 
seems  to  have  brought  them  successively  to  naught.  Since  the  inauguration  of  the 
present  study,  however,  a  plan  of  cooperation  has  been  worked  out  that  includes  a  new 
factor,  the  university,  and  embraces  two  features  that  contribute  elements  of  possible 
permanence.  First,  the  plan  contemplates  exchange  of  credit  between  all  state  insti- 

1  See  page  44. 


62  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL 

tutlons  which  satisfy  certain  fully  defined  standards.  This  relation  with  the  university 
is  new,  and  will  undoubtedly  add  force  and  incentive  to  the  arrangement.  The  other 
significant  feature  of  the  plan  is  a  committee  of  visitation  and  inspection  selected  an- 
nually, one  member  appointed  from  the  state  department  to  be  chairman ;  a  second, 
selected  by  the  faculty  of  the  university,  and  a  third,  by  the  faculty  of  a  normal  school 
— the  last  representing  the  schools  in  rotation.  It  should  be  noted  that  these  last  two 
members  represent  not  the  presidents  but  the  faculties  of  the  respective  institutions. 
The  duty  of  the  committee  is  to  report  on  each  institution's  adherence  to  the  pro- 
posed standards,  presumably  after  sufficient  investigation.  The  standards  set  forth  in 
the  agreement  deal  with  terms  of  admission,  advanced  standing,  records,  and  credit ; 
the  preparation  and  teaching  load  of  instructors;  program  hours,  certificates,  and 
degrees  of  students ;  and  terminology  of  courses. 

This  agreement  among  the  schools  is  thoroughly  admirable  as  far  as  it  goes.  There 
is  danger  lest  the  committee  prove  either  too  inquisitive  to  commend  itself  to  all  of 
the  institutions,  or  too  tender  hearted  to  accomplish  its  purpose;  with  tact  and  judg- 
ment it  should  be  able  to  smooth  out  differences  and  pave  the  way  for,  mutual  con- 
fidence in  so  far  as  this  depends  upon  correct  administration  in  such  details.  It  would 
be  a  pity,  however,  if  the  real  significance  of  the  movement  did  not  go  beyond  this. 
The  responsible  heads  of  the  state's  training  schools  have  here  united  in  a  permanent 
conference  group  to  have  definite  and  frequent  meetings,  where  matters  of  importance 
will  be  discussed.  Their  union  has  been  voluntary  and  uninfluenced  by  any  outside  dic- 
tation. There  is  an  excellent  opportunity,  under  such  circumstances,  for  officials  more 
interested  in  the  state  than  in  their  respective  personal  fortunes  to  proceed  from 
minor  matters  to  the  real  problems  that  confront  them :  the  actual  demand  for  their 
product,  the  scope  and  possible  differentiation  of  their  respective  efforts,  the  quality 
and  value  of  their  curricula,  and  so  forth.  Thru  the  development  of  this  conference 
group  the  state  might  evolve  a  board  of  expert  leaders  in  this  all-important  function 
— a  permanent  "general  staff"  committed  to  persistent  discussion  and  sifting  of  these 
larger  problems  until  the  fight  solution  should  be  found.  In  that  case  no  institution 
would  feel  justified  in  taking  an  important  step  without  the  approval  of  this  group ; 
and  the  education  of  the  state's  most  important  professional  class  would  be  conducted 
with  harmony  and  clear  purpose  on  a  high  level.  In  such  an  event  Missouri  would 
establish  a  most  notable  precedent -for  cooperation.  The  success  of  the  movement 
would,  of  course,  be  immensely  facilitated  by  bringing  all  the  normal  schools  legally 
into  the  organization  of  the  university — a  step  that  could  be  taken  by  statute  with- 
out disturbing  the  impregnable  rock  of  the  Missouri  constitution;  but  much  can  be 
done  even  without  this  very  desirable  change,  as  the  unanimous  verdict  of  such  a 
body  of  educational  leaders  would  probably  carry  great  weight  with  any  local  author-, 
ity.  There  is  every  reason  why  the  state,  unless  prepared  for  radical  action,  should 
allow  the  new  movement  time  in  which  to  bear  its  full  fruit,  in  the  hope  that  this 
possible  larger  outcome  may  be  realized. 


REORGANIZATION  OF  STATE  CONTROL  63 

C.  REORGANIZATION  OF  STATE  EDUCATIONAL  CONTROL 

The  merits  of  various  types  of  state  administration  in  educational  affairs  are  not 
the  main  subject  of  this  study.  A  well-conducted  state  department  is,  nevertheless,  of 
such  capital  importance  to  a  successful  management  of  teacher  preparation  and  sup- 
ply that  a  brief  consideration  cannot  well  be  avoided. 

PRINCIPLE  OF  CENTRALIZATION 

Whatever  steps  may  be  taken  in  Missouri  or  elsewhere  in  the  name  of  progress  in 
educational  organization,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  they  will  represent  in  some  form  the 
present  inevitable  tendency  toward  simplification,  by  centralizing  power  and  respon- 
sibility in  the  hands  of  a  few  individuals — and  these  fitted  to  use  it.  Most  of  the  not- 
able gains  in  educational  administration  during  the  past  quarter  century  have  been 
of  this  nature.  They  have  come  first  in  cities  where  the  problem  could  be  grasped  by 
one  brain  and  the  treatment  be  worked  out  at  one  desk.  Gradually  the  principle 
has  been  applied  to  counties  and  larger  districts,  where  wiser  selection  of  officers,  bet- 
ter compensation,  and  larger  powers  will  yet  work  vast  improvement.  The  natural 
climax  of  the  development  has  been  reached  in  the  movement  to  galvanize  into  use- 
ful action  the  more  or  less  quiescent  or  perfunctory  state  departments  of  education. 
It  is  with  these  that  we  are  particularly  concerned. 

THE  STATE  UNIT  OF  ADMINISTRATION 

In  the  American  Union  the  state,  except  for  special,  purposes,  is  the  largest  admin- 
istrative unit  in  educational  affairs.  As  our  commonwealths  have  become  more  and 
more  self-conscious  in  laboring  for  the  permanent  protection  and  satisfaction  of  their 
people,  the  problem  of  education  has  assumed  constantly  increasing  importance.  The 
only  successful  plan  hitherto  discovered  has  been  to  obtain  the  services  of  the  best 
trained  minds  available,  regardless  of  cost,  and  about  these  leaders  to  build  an  or- 
ganimtion  with  adequate  powers.  Thru  this  means  the  state  hopes  first  to  study  and 
understand  itself,  and  to  have  its  needs  translated  into  educational  terms  that  may 
be  embodied  in  suitable  legislation.  It  aims,  further,  to  gather  and  prepare  the  most 
profitable  educational  information  for  the  benefit  of  all  in  the  state  who  may  need  it. 
Most  important  of  all,  it  aims  thru  this  authority  to  make  and  enforce  standards 
wherewith  to  express  for  the  state  as  a  whole  the  educational  will  and  ideals  that  it 
could  not  realize  in  the  isolated  efforts  of  its  parts.  As  the  economy  and  profit  of 
state  regulation  has  become  apparent,  its  scope  has  steadily  enlarged:  it  affects  in 
varying  ways  school  buildings,  equipment,  and  finances;  attendance  and  curricula; 
the  health  of  pupils  and  the  duties  of  school  directors.  But  the  greatest  and  by  far 
the  most  important  feature  of  its  extension  has  been  its  jurisdiction  over  qualifica- 
tions of  the  personnel  engaged  in  instruction^  and  supervision,  reaching  sometimes 
even  to  the  selection  and  pay  of  important  local  officers. 


64  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL 

ADVANTAGES  OF  STATE  CONTROL 

This  concern  on  the  part  of  the  state  for  the  selection,  training,  and  control  of 
the  teacher  and  school  officer  is  the  sanest  development  of  modern  school  adminis- 
tration. A  state  making  good  use  of  its  powers  in  this  direction  could  probably  af- 
ford to  ignore  most  other  elements  in  public  education  without  losing  its  place  in 
advance  of  its  less  far-sighted  neighbors.  For  whatever  the  mechanical  and  material 
progress  in  an  educational  organism, — and  this  has  been  enormous  in  America  dur- 
ing recent  years, — the  clearest  lesson  of  our  growth  is  that  the  real  level  of  a  school 
system  is  exactly  measured  by  the  character,  ability,  and  well-being  of  its  teaching 
and  supervising  body.  Where  these  elements  have  been  left  to  local  initiative,  pro- 
gress has  been  fitful  and  uneven,  with  sharp  and  demoralizing  contrasts;  but  where 
the  state,  representing  the  major  ideals  of  the  people,  has  boldly  asserted  its  pre- 
rogative, and  has  shaped  its  teaching  staff  into  a  corps  of  trained  public  servants, 
officers  of  the  state  instead  of  local  employees,  the  response  from  the  community  has 
been  immediate,  and  the  effect  on  the  teachers  has  invariably  been  to  give  them 
dignity,  stability,  and  strength.  The  obstacles  encountered  are  chiefly  those  of  unre- 
flecting tradition :  a  public  temper  that  resists  high  personal  qualifications  because  it 
habitually  thinks  of  public  service  in  terms  of  opportunity  for  livelihood  at  public 
expense  rather  than  as  an  obligation  for  the  public  welfare ;  a  tendency  in  institutions 
to  prefer  expansion  by  catering  to  the  anticipated  future  of  the  institution  itself  rather 
than  by  a  direct  attack  on  a  problem  that  may  involve  a  degree  of  sincere  self-efface- 
ment; and  lastly — the  root  trouble  with  the  whole  lay  opposition — the  inability  to 
comprehend  that  a  select  and  highly  efficient  body  of  teachers  is  well  worth  the  rela- 
tively greater  money  cost.  These  attitudes  are  more  or  less  prevalent  in  all  states,  and 
yield  only  to  unremitting  educational  effort 

CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESSFUL  STATE  ADMINISTRATION 

To  work  its  will  successfully,  experience  has  shown  that  a  state  must  have  a  central 
educational  authority  possessing  well-trained  intelligence  in  technical  affairs,  coupled 
with  full  power  and  responsibility  in  its  field,  both  completely  shielded  from  political 
influences.  When  the  state  has  indicated  the  general  direction  of  its  educational  de- 
sires and  policy,  the  more  liberty  that  can  be  allowed  its  officers  in  working  these  out, 
the  better,  as  they  involve  a  multitude  of  details  impossible  of  legislative  regulation 
without  destructive  results.  Particularly  in  the **pro visions  governing  teachers'*  qual- 
ifications and  service  the  way  should  be  left  clear  for  free  initiative  and  correction. 
Statutes  on  matters  of  such  fluid  detail  serve  no  purpose  save  to  bind  the  schools  to 
the  past  and  to  set  commissioners  the  useless  task  of  accomplishing  a  necessary  end  in 
some  roundabout  way.  Steady  administrative  change  in  matters  of  this  nature,  annual 
if  need  be,  as  the  result  of  a  systematic  study  of  the  total  situation,  is  the  rational 
method  of  progress  as  compared  with  a  set  of  rigid  laws  followed  by  a  long-agitated 
change  to  another  set  destined  to  become  equally  rigid. 


REORGANIZATION  OF  STATE  CONTROL          65 

Of  all  the  phases  of  the  teacher  problem  with  which  a  state  authority  should  be 
equipped  to  deal,  that  of  preparation  and  supply  is  the  most  important.  At  this  point 
the  state's  educational  arm  should  be  steady  and  powerful.  Of  what  use  is  it  to  study 
the  needs  of  the  schools  and  to  gather  wisdom  from  outside  experience  if  one  is  help- 
less to  enforce  reasonable  standards  of  qualification?  With  no  control  over  the  agen- 
cies for  training  teachers,  the  central  office  is  at  the  mercy  of  fluctuating  conditions. 
Confronted  with  a  very  pressing  and  specific  need,  it  is  compelled  to  wait  upon  the 
independent  heads  of  institutions  whose  purposes  may  be  in  no  way  identical  with  its 
own,  and  whose  knowledge  of  the  situation  is  bound  to  be  far  less  complete.  Teacher 
supply,  instead  of  being  a  rational  problem  with  known  quantities,  becomes  as  uncer- 
tain as  a  lottery.  To  secure  the  necessary  results,  professional  training  for  teaching, 
when  conducted  by  the  state,  must  cease  to  be  vague  and  fortuitous,  as  is  much  of  our 
higher  education,  and  must  be  subordinated  to  intelligent  forces  that  are  studying  and 
guiding  the  state's  educational  interests  as  a  whole.  For  this  purpose,  therefore,  the 
direction  of  such  work,  whatever  form  it  may  take,  should  be  placed  under  one  har- 
monious control  capable  of  building  up  a  consistent  structure  to  serve  the  state  that 
creates  it. 

UNIFICATION  OF  CONTROL  IN  MISSOURI 

Ho  wean  an  organization  on  these  principles  be  brought  about  in  Missouri?  The  best 
educational  opinion  will  concur  in  the  conclusion  that  the  present  system  of  local  nor- 
mal school  boards  is  a  disadvantage  and  should  be  abandoned.  The  foregoing  section 
was  devoted  to  a  plan  whereby  these  schools  should  be  given  their  natural  place  in  the 
university  organization,  with  their  executives  in  charge  of  the  whole  problem  of  the 
preparation  and  supply  of  teachers  for  the  state.  Informed  opinion  will  likewise  agree 
that  it  is  a  serious  weakness  to  have  a  state  superintendent  elected  by  the  people  as  a 
partisan,  and  that  he  should  be  replaced  by  a  skilled  officer,  chosen  solely  for  his  abil- 
ity, on  a  tenure  of  "good  behaviour,"  and  responsible  to  a  group  of  intelligent  laymen. 

The  absolute  need  for  concerted  action  between  these  two  authorities — the  one 
responsible  for  training  in  state  institutions,  the  other  for  administration  at  large — 
suggests  at  once  the  advisability  of  placing  both  functions  under  one  board  of  rep- 
resentative citizens  who  shall  harmonize  their  joint  operations  and  ensure  that  all  of 
the  educational  interests  that  are  supported  by  the  state  be  developed  in  a  wise  and 
mutually  helpful  manner.  Such  a  step  would  be  unprecedented  in  the  management 
of  state  educational  affairs  in  America.  It  is,  however,  the  logical  outcome  of  a  power- 
ful impulse  toward  unity  that  for  years  has  been  actuating  the  experiments  in  edu- 
cational administration  all  over  this  country. 

EXPERIMENTS  IN  OTHER  STATES 

In  certain  states,  such  as  Massachusetts,  Wisconsin,  and,  most  recently,  Illinois,  im- 
provement in  administration  has  taken  the  simple  form  of  bringing  several  normal 


66  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL 

schools  under  the  control  of  one  board  for  the  sake  of  economy.  Only  in  Massachusetts 
has  this  unification  included  the  state  department  of  education,  which,  by  virtue  of 
its  relation  to  the  public  schools  of  the  state,  has  a  predominant  interest  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  normal  schools.  The  board  is  served  by  an  appointive  Commissioner  of 
Education,  who  thus  has  it  in  his  power  to  coordinate  the  service  of  the  normal  schools 
with  the  needs  of  the  state  in  admirable  fashion.  There  being  no  state  institutions  for 
higher  education  in  Massachusetts  except  the  normal  schools  and  an  agricultural  col- 
lege, the  board  is,  with  this  exception,  a  single  authority  for  educational  control. 

Another  form  of  consolidation  has  sought  to  unify  all  institutions  for  higher  edu- 
cation under  one  management.  Thus,  Iowa  provides  an  unpaid  lay  board  of  nine,  with 
three  paid  lay  executives  in  addition,  and  places  it  in  charge  of  all  higher  institutions. 
This  board  has  no  competent  educational  adviser  and  executive  such  as  a  state  com- 
missioner presumably  would  be,  but  must  depend  upon  the  representations  of  the 
several  heads  of  institutions,  officers  who  necessarily  speak,  or  must  appear  to  speak, 
esc  pctrte  on  all  inter-institutioual  questions.  In  the  Iowa  plan,  too,  while  the  board 
controls  the  normal  school,  the  state  superintendent  and  his  office,  which  should  stand 
in  most  intimate  relation  with  the  normal  school,  are  wholly  independent;  in  fact, 
maintain  an  attitude  of  mild  opposition  to  the  board.  In  Kansas  the  same  trio  of  insti- 
tutions—  a  threefold  normal  school,  an  agricultural  college,  and  a  state  university — 
are  administered  by  a  paid  lay  board  of  three  members,  likewise  without  a  trained 
educational  executive  or  adviser  other  than  the  heads  of  institutions.  Here  also  the 
state  education  department,  which  naturally  has  a  fundamental  interest  in  the  train- 
ing of  teachers,  is  left  wholly  separate  and  distinct. 

The  underlying  purpose  in  Iowa,  Kansas,  and  other  states  that  have  initiated  sim- 
ilar schemes  is  to  coordinate  institutional  activities  in  the  interests  of  economy.  To 
do  this  they  have  effected  a  degree  of  unification  under  merely  "business"  auspices, 
as  it  were, —  a  movement  that  has  had  some  salutary  effects,  but  the  measures  taken 
thus  far  have  dealt  largely  or  solely  with  the  material  phases  of  their  charges.  It  has 
not  been  perceived  that  the  critical  problems  involved  are  essentially  educational,  and 
can  be  worked  out  only  by  men  with  thorough  educational  training,  empowered  to 
act  on  slowly  maturing  policies  with  the  intelligent  cooperation  of  able  colleagties, 
and  with  continuous  study  of  the  conditions.  These  states  are  like  Missouri  in  thinking 
their  duty  done  when  they  have  established  a  modern  accounting  system  for  financial 
expenditures,  and  in  ignoring  completely  the  need  for  competent  leadership  in  that 
for  which  the  institutions  exist.  So  persistent  is  this  attitude  that  in  Kansas  the  most 
recent  development  (1917)  has  been  the  appointment  of  a  paid  "business  manager," 
by  law  a  Kansan,  responsible  to  the  board,  and  expected  to  handle  the  financial  affairs 
of  all  state  institutions;  meanwhile,  the  direction  of  the  educational  policies  of  such 
institutions  as  are  educational  has  reverted  largely  to  the  local  authorities,  where  it 
should  remain  as  long  as  no  competent  educational  executive  is  placed  in  control. 

The  single  board  plan  has  attained  fuller  stature  in  Montana,  where  a  board  of 


REORGANIZATION  OF  STATE  CONTROL         67 

eleven  members  governs  all  the  higher  institutions  of  the  state.  This  board  sought 
a  trained  man  as  its  educational  adviser  and  executive.  So  far  as  our  present  experi- 
ence goes,  the  plan  is  sound.  As  in  the  other  cases,  however,  there  is  an  indepen- 
dent, elective  state  superintendent  for  the  administration  of  the  elementary  and  sec- 
ondary schools.  This  disadvantage  is  not  overcome  by  making  him  a  member  of  the 
board;  were  he  appointed  by  it  and  responsible  to  it,  his  relation  would  be  logical 
and  strong. 

LESSONS  FROM  RECENT  EXPERIENCE 

The  best  American  experience  points  to  the  conclusion  that  a  single  board  of  from 
five  to  seven  members  appointed  or  elected  at  large  for  long  terms,  unpaid,  and  repre- 
senting high  and  varied  ability,  is  the  most  successful  form  of  educational  control 
yet  devised  for  a  democratic  community.  But  it  must  be  so  constructed  and  equipped 
that  it  will  automatically  obtain  its  educational  advice  from  competent  sources.  These 
sources  of  technical  advice  must  not  compete  with  one  another,  but  must  be  so  dis- 
posed as  habitually  to  find  their  point  of  view  in  the  welfare  of  the  state  as  a  whole. 
The  heads  of  independent  state  institutions  for  higher  education  do  compete  with 
one  another,  and  from  a  point  of  view  not  usually  chosen  with  regard  to  the  welfare  of 
the  state  as  a  whole;  such  institutional  interests  should  therefore  be  brought  under 
one  supervision  and  be  represented  by  a  director  or  chancellor  for  the  staters  under- 
takings in  higher  education,  all  of  which  should  be  more  or  less  firmly  organized  into 
what  is  called  the  university. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  so-called  state  department  of  education,  if  it  discharges  the 
functions  properly  assigned  to  it,  has  a  preponderant  interest  in  the  performance  of 
the  higher  educational  institutions  that  prepare  teachers.  Its  executive,  if  a  skilled 
appointive  officer,  as  he  should  be,  is  virtually  the  chancellor  of  elementary  and  sec- 
ondary schools — a  position  that  beyond  all  question  is  potentially  the  most  widely 
influential  within  the  range  of  a  state's  educational  system.  The  primary  concern  of 
such  an  officer  is  with  the  great  body  of  teachers  in  service;  he  studies  their  conditions, 
regulates  their  qualifications,  eliminates  the  unfit,  and  inspires  and  improves  the  capa- 
ble. The  best  practical  reason  for  his  existence  is  that  the  state  may  maintain  an  ade- 
quate and  fully  competent  supply  of  teachers  in  its  schools.  It  is  obvious  that  in  order 
effectively  to  perform  such  duties  he  must  find  the  whole  machinery  for  preparing 
these  teachers  reasonably  responsive  to  his  desires  and  policies. 

The  conclusion  is  unavoidable  that  to  bring  these  two  great  administrative  cen- 
tres of  state  education  into  constant  touch  with  one  another  under  the  eyes  of  a 
single  group  of  men  responsible  to  the  public  would  be  a  long  stride  in  the  direc- 
tion of  an  effective  organization.  The  state's  entire  educational  program  would  gain 
greatly  in  consistency  and  force  if  laid  out  by  one  permanent,  controlling  body; 
while  the  economy  of  power  in  the  direct  methods  of  a  unified  administration  would 
be  incalculable. 


68  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONTROL 

RELATIONS  OF  CONSTITUENT  DEPARTMENTS 

The  question  will  at  once  be  raised  as  to  the  relations  of  the  two  executive  de- 
partments subordinated  by  this  plan  to  the  single  board.  On  this  important  point 
there  is  no  actual  experience  available  for  guidance.  Analogies  from  business  enter- 
prises would  favor  a  single  officer  as  the  chief  adviser  and  executive  for  all  purposes, 
and  there  is  every  indication  that  such  an  appointment  will  eventually  prove  to  be 
absolutely  necessary.  When  Missouri  is  willing  to  spend  not  less  than  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year  for  a  thoroughly  trained  and  tested  man  and  provide  him  with 
two  or  three  deputies  at  ten  thousand  dollars  each,  she  will  inaugurate  the  organiza- 
tion that  will  most  surely  give  her  educational  interests  their  appropriate  place  and 
meaning  in  the  state's  social  economy.  At  the  present  time,  however,  such  experts, 
thoroughly  familiar  with  the  problems  that  lie  thick  throughout  the  whole  range  of 
educational  effort,  would  be  hard  to  find  at  the  price  that  Missouri  is  probably  pre- 
pared to  pay.  We  have  men  who  know  higher  education  well,  and  others  who  under- 
stand state  administration  in  all  of  its  phases.  A  single  chief  for  both  departments, 
except  with  ample  funds  for  a  capable  staff,  would  certainly  mean  the  relegation  of 
close  thought  and  careful  planning  in  each  field  to  inferior  subordinates,  while  the 
head  became  a  free  lance  for  general  purposes.  This  would  not  be  what  is  needed. 

The  alternative  is  a  single  lay  board  seeking  advice,  in  the  institutional  field,  from 
the  head  of  its  whole  establishment  for  higher  education ;  and  in  the  administrative 
field,  from  its  commissioner  who  represents  the  investigative,  regulative,  and  ad- 
ministrative phases  of  public  education  as  far  as  the  elementary  and  secondary  schools 
are  concerned.  These  two  departments  are  as  distinct  as  are  the  divisions  of  army 
and  navy  in  the  national  economy,  and  yet  quite  as  interdependent.  Their  respective 
heads,  as  Chancellor  of  the  University  and  Commissioner  of  Education,  should  be 
chosen  with  equal  care  and  receive  equal  compensation.  They  should  be  non-voting 
members  of  the  board  and  participants  in  all  of  its  deliberations.  Cooperation  should 
be  their  first  duty  in  planning  recommendations  to  the  board,  and  should  be  the  first 
requirement  of  the  board  in  case  of  disagreement,  even  to  the  retirement  of  one 
adviser  or  the  other. 

Such  an  arrangement,  so  safeguarded,  might  reasonably  result  in  a  more  vigorous 
and  expert  leadership  of  each  department  than  would  be  possible,  for  the  same  ex- 
penditure, under  the  one-man  system.  It  would  certainly  lead  to  a  more  thorough  study 
and  threshing  over  of  joint  problems  than  a  single  head  could  require  of  his  less 
skilful  subordinates.  Its  tendency  would  apparently  be  away  from  a  cheap  bureaucracy 
under  spectacular  leadership  in  favor  of  a  better  vitalized,  working  group  in  closer 
touch  with  actual  conditions. 

To  recapitulate :  Missouri,  were  she  to  act  on  these  proposals,  would  possess  a  re- 
organized university  which  would  include  all  the  tax-supported  agencies  that  are 
concerned  with  higher  instruction,  unified  completely  in  a  single  self-acting,  self-criti- 
cising organism,  and  represented  by  a  single  administrative  head — the  state's  director 


REORGANIZATION  OF  STATE  CONTROL  69 

of  higher  and  professional  instruction.  "Within  this  organism  the  broad  function  of 
preparing  teachers  for  the  public  schools  of  the  state  would  be  entrusted  to  a  small 
group  of  specialists  acting  in  unison  and  in  immediate  control  of  the  several  institu- 
tions for  accomplishing  their  purposes.  Side  by  side  with  the  university  would  appear 
the  staters  large  and  ever  increasing  organization  for  supervising  and  regulating  the 
operation  of  its  elementary  and  secondary  schools,  for  administering  its  many  aids 
and  funds,  and  for  studying  and  reporting  the  educational  health  and  needs  in  every 
part  of  the  commonwealth;  this  would  be  in  charge  of  the  same  board,  but  subject 
in  turn  to  its  own  administrative  head — the  commissioner  of  education,  an  officer 
ranking  with  his  university  colleague,  equally  fitted  for  his  position,  and  receiving 
an  equal  salary.  The  chief  business  of  the  board  would  be  to  keep  the  best  obtainable 
executives  in  these  two  positions,  and  to  require  them,  in  constant  cooperation  with 
one  another,  to  furnish  reasonable  evidence  of  successful  service.  Beyond  that  the 
function  of  the  board  would  be  to  uphold  and  protect  its  servants ;  to  interpret  their 
aims  and  measures  to  the  state;  and  to  promote  among  the  people  a  generous  con- 
ception of  public  education. 


V 
PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

A.  GENERAL  FUNCTION 

1.  THE  EXISTING  CONCEPTION 

"WHAT  should  a  normal  school  be?"  This  is  a  question  which,  according  to  Joseph 
Baldwin,  the  first  president  at  Kirks  ville,  "only  the  angels  can  answer."  Whatever  the 
accuracy  of  this  verdict,  it  is  possible  at  least  to  discover  what  the  function  of  the 
institution  has  been  as  worked  out  in  practice  in  Missouri. 

EARLY  CONCEPTION  OF  THE  FUNCTION  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

The  question  may  be  reduced  to  the  following  alternatives :  the  normal  school  shall 
either  provide  a  general  education,  making  its  professional  features  more  or  less  inci- 
dental, or  it  shall  undertake  to  give  an  intensive  professional  training,  exclusively  for 
teachers.  Of  these  alternatives,  Missouri  at  any  time  in  her  early  normal  school  his- 
tory would  have  emphatically  asserted  the  latter.  From  the  beginning,  the  movement 
was  in  the  hands  of  men  who  had  unlimited  faith  in  the  professional  idea.  Its  appeal 
was  founded  on  the  prevailing  low  state  of  training  among  common  school  teachers, 
and  it  was  promoted  by  teachers,  superintendents,  and  associations  of  these,  who  had 
definitely  in  mind  the  elevation  of  the  class  as  a  whole.  So  in  1871  the  State  Teach- 
ers Association  at  Chillicothe  resolved  "that  the  normal  schools  should  be  at  the 
head  of  our  educational  system;  that  the  course  should  be  purely  professional;  and 
that  all  preparatory  work  should  be  done  in  the  public  schools  and  universities."  *  The 
early  curricula  exhibit  this  predominant  idea  very  clearly:  it  was  never  a  question  of 
giving  or  of  not  giving  the  professional  subjects,  but  always  of  how  much  academic 
material  would  suffice  to  supplement  the  defective  preparation  with  which  most  stu- 
dents came  equipped.  All  subjects  were  presented  or  reviewed  from  the  standpoint 
of  their  most  effective  presentation  to  a  class,  and  the  practical  usages  of  instruction 
received  heavy  emphasis.  "No  effort  has  been  spared  to  make  the  institution  exclu- 
sively a  school  for  teachers."2  "In  arranging  the  course  of  instruction  strict  regard 
has  been  paid  to  the  requirements  of  the  public  schools  of  Missouri,  and  in  carrying 
out  that  course  our  constant  aim  has  been  to  give  such  training  as  will  best  qualify 
the  graduate  both  intellectually  and  morally  for  effective  work  as  a  teacher." 3  These 
statements  from  Warrensburg  in  1878  and  1886  reveal  the  attitude  of  the  other 
schools  as  well.  President  Baldwin,  at  Kirksville,  declared  in  1872  that  "every  energy 
is  directed  to  preparing  for  the  public  schools  of  Missouri  the  largest  number  of  good 
teachers  in  the  shortest  time,"4  and  in  1880 :  the  aim  of  the  school  is  "to  give  culture 
and  learning,  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  student,  but  that  it  may  be  used  in  the  edu- 

1  State  Report,  1871,  page  19.  2  Ibid.,  1878,  page  224. 

8  Ibid.,  1886,  pa&e  108.  *  Ibid.*  1872,  pa&e  166. 


GENERAL  FUNCTION  71 

cation  of  the  masses." 1  Especially  instructive  are  the  observations  of  State  Superin- 
tendent Monteith,  who  was  in  office  when  the  schools  were  started: 

"  It  is  a  pretty  well-defined  result  of  experience,  too,  that  normal  schools  should 
be  quite  elementary  in  respect  to  the  subject  matter  and  curriculum  of  study.  In  a 
school  system  which  embraces  high  schools  and  universities,  there  is  not  the  slight- 
est reason  why  the  normal  school  should  duplicate  the  instruction  of  these  more 
'  advanced  institutions.  I  am  thoroughly  convinced,  in  observing  the  mistakes  of 
other  states,  that  the  normal  school  is  disappointing  the  object  of  its  design 
when  it  drifts  away  from  the  common  schools  of  the  country.  With  this  object 
steadily  in  view,  our  Board  of  Regents  are  endeavoring  to  adjust  the  two  schools 
already  established  to  the  special  conditions  and  wants  of  the  state.  The  higher 
mathematics  and  dead  languages,  except  within  a  certain  eminently  practical 
limit,  are  to  give  way  to  a  more  generous  attention  to  natural  science,  drawing, 
and  the  perfecting  of  teachers  in  the  best  methods  of  conducting  the  common 
branches  of  the  common  school." 2 

Missouri  normal  schools,  therefore,  were  founded  to  train  teachers.  To  say  "exclu- 
sively" would  be  technically  wrong,  as  certain  readjustments  were  occasionally  made 
here  and  there ;  for  example,  special  classes  in  Greek  were  sometimes  offered  to  accom- 
modate a  few  who  wished  to  go  to  the  university,  and  certain  individuals  were  occa- 
sionally present  who  did  not  declare  their  intention  to  teach.  But  the  clear  and  con- 
sistent aim  apparent  under  all  circumstances  was  to  provide  teachers,  actual  or  pro- 
spective, with  special  skill  for  their  duties,  and  in  their  reports  to  the  legislature  all 
the  schools  were  solicitous  to  show  that  the  largest  possible  proportion  of  their  stu- 
dents were  actually  teaching  in  the  state. 

SUBSEQUENT  VARIATIONS 

This  fixed  purpose  of  the  first  thirty  years  has  wavered  in  some  schools  during  the 
subsequent  period.  The  three  original  institutions  furnish  an  interesting  contrast  in 
this  respect.  In  1909,  under  the  caption  "People's  College,1'  Kirks ville  announced  itself 
as  follows : 

**  The  State  Normal  School,  Kirksville,  Mo.,  is  attempting  to  do  a  great  work  for 
the  people  of  the  state  by  giving  studies  reaching  from  the  kindergarten  through 
the  most  advanced  college  courses.  This  wide  range  of  work — meeting  the  de- 
mands of  all  the  people — is  found  in  very  few  first  class  schools.  While  advanced 
common  school  courses  are  given  in  this  institution  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
are  preparing  to  teach  in  the  rural  and  ungraded  schools,  academic  degrees  are 
conferred  upon  those  who  have  completed  the  work  offered  by  our  best  colleges. 
This  brings  the  school  in  close  touch  with  the  people  by  giving  an  elaborate  edu- 
cation to  those  who  want  to  enter  the  professions,  and  a  vocational  education 
for  those  who  want  to  take  practical  business  courses.  It  cannot  be  denied  that 
the  Normal  School  comes  nearer  the  people  than  other  schools  and  may  there- 
fore be  justly  called  the  People's  College."8 

*  State  Report,  1880,  page  159.  *  Ibid.,  1872,  page  37. 

3  Bulletin  (Supplement),  MrTcsmlle,  June,  1909,  page  1. 


72  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

This  statement  is  followed  by  an  extensive  program  of  courses  that  are  clearly  not 
intended  for  teachers — one-year  curricula  chiefly  in  farming  and  commerce.  Nowhere 
in  this  bulletin,  furthermore,,  is  there  a  clear  statement  that  the  school  is  of  a  limited 
professional  character,  or  that  a  declaration  of  intention  to  teach  is  required.  It  holds 
out  rather  an  alluring  vision  of  a  sort  of  educational  lunch  counter  where  everything 
"the  people  "wish  may  be  had  in  portions  suited  to  their  convenience. 

The  "People's  College''"'  idea  does  not  appear  to  have  thrived;  at  any  rate,  nothing 
more  is  heard  of  it,  and  the  catalogue  of  the  following  year  goes  back  plainly  to  the 
original  aim :  "  The  Normal  School  is  not  a  college  for  general  culture.  It  is  a  voca- 
tional institution  of  college  rank.  Under  the  law  its  students  declare  their  intention 
to  teach  in  the  public  schools."  The  subsequent  catalogues  have  shown  a  single,  strong 
professional  purpose. 

At  Cape  Girardeau  an  enlargement  of  scope  was  announced  in  the  same  year  as  at 
Kirks ville.  The  catalogue  of  1909  declares:  "The  Normal  School  has  a  larger  mission 
in  Southeast  Missouri  than  that  of  a  state  college  for  teachers.  .  .  .  The  institution 
must  be  to  this  section  of  the  state  their  one  great  college.  It  is  fully  equipped  to  meet 
the  demands  that  are  naturally  made  upon  it.  In  its  college  courses;  in  its  agricultural 
courses;  in  its  Manual  Training  School;  in  its  domestic  science  and  domestic  art 
courses;  in  its  School  of  Music;  in  its  business  courses;  and  in  its  teachers'  college 
the  people  of  Southeast  Missouri  will  find  the  opportunity  to  educate  themselves  for 
their  life  work." 

Tho  placing  its  teachers  college  last  in  the  above  list,  the  school  elsewhere  in  the 
catalogue  clearly  defines  its  legal  teacher-training  function  as  a  portion  of  its  activ- 
ity. In  the  catalogue  of  1910  its  "Field  of  Service"  is  formally  described  as  comprising 
"A  School  for  Teachers,"  a  "Sub-collegiate"  department,  and  "A  State  College,"  the 
latter  offering  (since  1907)  courses  leading  to  the  degree  of  A.B.  and  requiring  in  them 
no  work  in  education  whatever.  Here  we  have,  therefore,  an  institution  deliberately 
revising  its  organization  throughout  and  introducing,  not  one-year  vocational  courses 
as  at  Kirksville,  but  an  elaborate  curriculum  with  a  new  and  alien  purpose.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  see  how  either  school  could  reconcile  these  departures  with  the  law^s  demand 
for  an  exaction  from  each  student  of  a  declaration  of  intention  to  teach  in  the  schools 
of  Missouri.  Cape  Girardeau,  and  possibly  Kirksville,  has  been  saved  from  embarrass- 
ment thru  the  fact  that  but  for  a  single  case  no  graduate  has  taken  the  courses  ex- 
cept prospective  teachers  who  could  also  avow  their  intention  to  teach;  that,  how- 
ever, scarcely  justifies  the  appeal  for  students  distinctly  excluded  by  law.  This  divided 
purpose  at  Cape  Girardeau  has  never  been  abandoned.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  been 
officially  reaffirmed  in  the  school's  magazine  publications  of  1913  and  1914,1  where 
the  pledge  to  teach  is  declared  to  be  out  of  date,  and  it  is  frankly  proposed  to  adapt 
the  institution  to  the  needs  of  men  and  women  who  will  teach  but  a  short  time,  if  at 
all,  and  whose  professional  interest  is  therefore  incidental  at  best. 

1  The  Educational  Outlook,  October,  1913,  page  136. 


GENERAL  FUNCTION  73 

Warrensburg,  on  the  other  hand,  has  consistently  adhered  to  the  original  plan,  to 
the  extent,  at  least,  of  an  unequivocal  announcement  of  her  special  aim  in  every  cata- 
logue down  to  the  present  year.  An  expression  in  the  school's  biennial  report  of  1885 
is  a  fair  sample  of  the  early  attitude :  "  On  all  proper  occasions  we  have  taken  pains  to 
spread  abroad  the  impression  that  this  school  is  designed  for  the  training  of  teach- 
ers and  for  no  other  purpose  whatever."  In  the  catalogue  of  1904  the  "Object  of  the 
School"  is  defined  in  the  following  paragraphs: 

"  In  the  law  creating  Normal  Schools  in  this  State  the  following  passages  occur : 

"*  The  course  of  instruction  shall  be  confined  to  such  branches  of  science  only 
as  are  usually  taught  in  Normal  Schools  and  which  may  be  necessary  to  qualify 
the  students  as  competent  teachers  in  the  public  schools  of  this  State. 

" '  Every  applicant  for  admission  shall  undergo  an  examination  in  such  man- 
ner as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  Board  [of  Regents],  and  they  shall  require  the  ap- 
plicant to  sign  and  file  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  a  declaration  of  intention 
to  follow  the  business  of  teaching  in  the  public  schools  of  this  State."* 

"  The  following  is  the  pledge  required  of  every  student  upon  entrance  and 
registration : 

"  *  I  hereby  declare  that  it  is  my  intention  to  follow  the  business  of  teaching  in 
the  public  schools  of  this  State,  and  that  I  voluntarily  enroll  myself  as  a  student 
in  the  State  Normal  School  at  Warrensburg  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  for 
that  work.' 

"The  limits  prescribed  for  the  course  of  study  and  the  form  of  the  pledge 
show  that  but  one  purpose  was  contemplated  by  the  State  in  establishing  these 
schools,  viz.:  The  training  of  teachers  for  the  public  schools  of  the  State.'"*1 

Similarly  in  1905  and  after,  the  school's  "sole  function  is  the  preparation  of  teach- 
ers for  the  schools  of  Missouri."  "  The  school  does  not  exist  for  the  benefit  of  its  stu- 
dents, but  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  people."2  And  in  191S:  The  school's  "sole  pur- 
pose is  to  confer  on  its  students  that  education,  discipline,  professional  training,  and 
practical  skill  which  will  best  fit  them  for  teaching  in  the  public  schools  of  the  State."3 

The  schools  at  Springfield  and  Mary  ville,  founded  in  1906,  have  in  general  followed 
the  exclusively  professional  ideal  also,  as  their  catalogues  attest.  Southwest  Missouri 
has  been  an  unusually  fruitful  field  for  such  single-minded  service,  and  the  school 
at  Springfield  has  prospered  remarkably.  Maryville,  in  1914,  devotes  two  pages  of 
its  catalogue  to  the  exposition  of  this  distinctly  professional  aim.  It  is  with  some  sur- 
prise, therefore,  that  one  sees  it  weakened  in  1916.  The  school  now  calls  itself  simply 
"an  educational  institution,"  and,  besides  enumerating  the  various  teacher-groups 
that  are  provided  for,  invites  also  those  who  are  "seeking  to  secure  the  preliminary 
college  academic  requirement"  for  the  university,  or  students  from  other  colleges  who 
seek  "to  extend  their  credits  in  college,"*'  and  finally  observes  "  that  many  persons  not 
immediately  concerned  with  teaching  find  pleasure  and  profit  in  becoming  enrolled 
in  our  classes,"  There  is  no  reference  to  the  declaration  of  intention  to  teach  required 
by  law. 

1  Catalogue,  Warrensburg,  1904,  page  15.  *  Ibid.,  1905,  page  20.  *  Ibid.,  1912,  page  16. 


74  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

SPECIAL  CONSIDERATIONS  AFFECTING  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL'S  CONCEPTION  OF  ITS  FUNCTION 
Before  discussing  the  merits  of  the  question  involved  in  these  divergent  proposals, 
there  are  certain  additional  facts  to  be  considered.  In  spite  of  the  professional  ideal 
that,  with  the  above  'exceptions,  has  dominated  the  schools,  the  notion  of  a  general 
education  has  almost  unconsciously,  and  for  historical  reasons,  influenced  their  pur- 
pose. From  the  beginning  the  students  in  these  normal  schools  have  been  exceed- 
ingly heterogeneous,  with  a  preponderance  of  mature  minds  of  good  ability  but  with 
very  defective  preparation  due  to  lack  of  opportunity.  The  all -important  preliminary 
process  was  therefore  necessarily  one  of  fundamental  education,  and  it  is  impressive 
to  note  how  consistently  the  Missouri  normal  schools  have  urged  this  principle,  even 
tho  at  times  they  appear  to  have  failed  to  practise  it.  Throughout  their  history  they 
seem  to  have  been  ardent  advocates  of  having  something  to  teach  as  compared  with 
certain  schools  in  other  states  that  sacrificed  their  character  on  the  altar  of  "method." 

PRESSURE  FOR  ACADEMIC  CREDIT 

Furthermore,  it  should  be  noted  that  as  purveyors  to  that  occupation  of  teaching 
whereby  chiefly  needy  and  ambitious  boys  and  girls  obtained  the  means  for  further 
education,  these  institutions  stood  in  tempting  relation  to  the  fuller  education  that 
their  students  sought.  It  was  a  matter  of  course  that  the  kind  of  student  who  came  to 
the  normal  school  had  taught  or  would  teach;  teaching  was  his  most  obvious  resource 
for  temporary  support.  Hence  in  very  many  cases  the  student  accepted  professional 
work  as  a  necessary  incident,  while  his  real  attention  was  upon  the  academic  work 
that  would  be  accepted  for  credit  in  another  and  higher  institution.  It  was  but  a  step, 
and  a  very  natural  step,  for  the  normal  school  to  develop  its  requirements  with  such  an 
end  in  view.  A  genuine  desire  to  prove  serviceable  to  hard-working  students  who  were 
using  the  teaching  profession  merely  as  a  ladder,  and  a  less  worthy  feeling  that  such 
students  brought  to  the  school  not  only  numbers  but  prestige,  combined  to  enhance 
the  "college""  idea  as  a  legitimate  goal.  Aside  from  Cape  Girardeau's  wholly  non-pro- 
fessional curriculum  already  mentioned,  the  sixty-hour  curriculum  for  high  school 
graduates  at  Maryville,  in  1914,  illustrates  such  a  purpose:  in  the  effort  to  offer  only 
subjects  that  might  be  used  for  credit  elsewhere,  no  special  study  of  the  history, 
geography,  and  arithmetic  that  these  students  were  presumably  later  to  teach  was  re- 
quired, except  as  it  appeared  fragmentarily  in  ten  semester  hours  of  practice  teaching.1 

That  pressure  of  this  sort  has  been  and  still  continues  to  be  severe  seems  evident 
from  the  replies  made  by  students  to  enquiries  at  the  various  schools.  Sixty  per  cent 
of  the  students  in  attendance  at  the  time  of  inspection  declared  that  they  did  not  in- 
tend to  teach  permanently.  With  the  women  the  factor  of  prospective  marriage  prob- 
ably weighs  heavily;  this  cannot,  however,  be  true  of  the  men,  seventy-eight  per  cent 
of  whom  make  the  negative  reply.  Such  students  naturally  have  little  interest  in  an  in- 

1  Good  normal  schools  elsewhere  were  at  the  same  time  requiring  12-15  semester  hours  in  these  subjects  aside  from 
a  full  semester  of  practice  work. 


GENERAL  FUNCTION  75 

tensive  professional  training;  those  studies  please  them  best  which  give  them  the  most 
credit  for  future  use.  Even  the  men  who  are  intending  to  continue  in  the  field  of  edu- 
cation find  but  little  inducement  in  the  work  properly  expected  from  mosb  of  the 
women.  The  latter  expect  to  teach,  while  the  men  hope  to  go  directly  into  adminis- 
trative positions.  As  a  group  the  men  in  the  normal  schools  seem  to  be  a  disintegrat- 
ing element,  yet  the  efforts  made  to  attract  and  retain  them  indicate  that  their  pres- 
ence is  nevertheless  much  preferred  to  a  homogeneous  professional  group  more  largely 
made  up  of  women. 

EFFECT  OF  LOCAL  CONTROL 

A  third  motive  for  stress  on  general  education  has  arisen  from  the  complete  local 
attachment  and  control  of  the  schools.  The  town  or  county  has  paid  a  heavy  bonus 
for  the  location,  and  naturally  exercises  proprietorship.  The  schools  are  severally  in 
the  hands  of  local  boards,  who  really  own  them  in  behalf  of  their  respective  districts. 
They  are  maintained  largely,  to  be  sure,  out  of  state  funds,  but  the  amount  of  such 
appropriations  depends  upon  the  energy  and  influence  of  their  board  members  and 
friends  who  lobby  vigorously,  and  is  never  in  any  sense  the  considered  proposal  of 
a  state  authority  directing  the  institution  solely  for  the  good  of  the  whole  state. 
They  become,  therefore,  the  local  public  educational  institutions;  and  the  fundamen- 
tal theory  of  a  school  to  train  public  servants  for  the  benefit  of  the  state  is  largely 
obscured  by  the  more  attractive  idea  of  a  place  where  local  youth  may  prepare  for 
college,  or  even  pursue  collegiate  studies  and  acquire  degrees.  Town  or  sectional  pride 
urges  this  interpretation  on  the  institution,  which  IB  turn  is  anxious  to  recruit  its 
numbers  because  of  its  feeling  of  responsibility  to  the  local  community.1  Regents  with 
pet  notions  find  an  easy  field  of  influence,  and  often  have  slight  perception  of  the  larger 
purpose  of  the  school.  One  of  these  urged  that,  as  his  school  had  an  old  telescope  in  its 
possession,  it  should  undertake  collegiate  courses  in  astronomy.  Administrators  nat- 
urally yield  most  quickly  to  the  forces  that  feed  and  affect  the  school,  and  when  de- 
pendent solely  upon  such  local  influences  can  scarcely  be  blamed  if  truer  ideals  seem 
distant  and  impracticable.  It  is  easy,  under  these  circumstances,  to  include  the  profes- 
sional idea,  because,  as  already  pointed  out,  it  fits  the  economic  situation  of  most  of 
the  student  patrons ;  but  to  make  it  really  the  sole  and  sufficient  reason  for  the  school's 
existence  is  less  easy,  and  probably  cannot  be  fully  accomplished  under  the  present 
system  of  control. 

"DEMOCRACY"  THE  JUSTIFICATION 

The  situation  described  in  the  foregoing  paragraph  has,  of  course,  developed  a  the- 
ory, or  the  interpretation  of  a  theory,  for  its  justification.  Great  emphasis  is  placed 

1  An  everywhere  vigorous  and  vocal  expression  of  this  town  pride  rises  from  the  vested  interests  dependent  on  the 
schools— boarding-houses,  stores,  churches,  and  so  on.  Thus,  a  writer  in  the  local  newspaper  of  one  of  the  normal 
school  towns  struck  a  responsive  chord  when  he  declared  that  the  present  study  would  undoubtedly  discourage 
the  attendance  of  men  at  the  school,  and  send  botto  men  and  women  to  "enrich  the  boarding?  houses  of  some  other 
place."  Kirksville  Express,  December  10f  1914T 


76  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

on  the  perfectly  valid  creed  that  the  people  know  what  they  want,  and  that  democracy 
in  education  consists  in  gratifying  their  desires.  But  from  this  creed  there  is  then 
drawn  the  inference  that  because  the  people  desire  good  teachers,  the  people  are 
therefore  competent  to  direct  the  institution  that  provides  them,  and  that  the  in- 
stitution is  most  "democratic"  that  yields  itself  most  completely  to  the  popular  local 
fancy.  Such,  unfortunately,  are  the  terms  on  which  it  is  often  possible,  thru  spectacu- 
lar features,  to  develop  a  large  school;  but  such  is  not  the  way  to  give  the  people 
what  they,  at  heart,  desire.  An  intelligent  society  has  learned  not  to  interfere  with 
competent  professional  service  when  it  would  be  healed  or  seek  justice  at  court;  that 
service  commands  the  maximum  confidence  which,  for  a  selected  end,  most  completely 
refines  and  dominates  its  choice  of  means.  This  temper  is  superlatively  characteristic 
of  a  good  school;  it  must  mould  and  dominate  public  opinion  in  its  field;  it  must 
guard  its  aims  and  processes  from  public  interference  precisely  in  order  that  the  pub- 
lic may  get  the  service  that  it  wants.  No  other  interpretation  of  public  service  is 
worthy  of  a  democracy,  but  the  present  system  of  local  control  makes  such  detached 
and  efficient  service  difficult  if  not  impossible. 

PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING  LONG  UNCEKTAIN  AS  TO  ITS  METHOD 

Finally,  the  development  of  professional  training  itself  has  involved  the  conception 
of  general  education  in  an  ambiguous  and  confusing  manner.  When  the  Missouri  nor- 
mal schools  were  established,  two  theories  existed  as  to  their  operation.  According  to 
the  first,  the  purpose  of  the  schools  should  be  solely  to  teach  subject-matter  prop- 
erly ;  it  was  said  that  students  would  teach  precisely  as  they  had  been  taught,  and  could 
shift  for  themselves  if  filled  with  ideas  to  be  communicated.  According  to  the  second 
theory,  only  the  indispensable  subject-matter  should  be  given;  the  main  purpose 
should  be  to  develop  the  philosophy  of  method  and  to  test  the  skill  of  the  candidate 
in  using  methods.  The  latter  theory  was  the  one  adopted  and  chiefly  followed,1  altho, 
as  has  been  said,  the  schools  appear  to  have  insisted  usually  that  the  foundation  of 
subject-matter  should  be  substantial  Little  by  little,  however,  both  in  Missouri  and 
elsewhere,  the  whole  normal  school  practice  seems  to  have  hardened  into  a  formalized 
method  from  which  the  schools  were  aroused  thru  criticism  by  the  universities.  The 
latter  had  been  persistent  adherents  of  the  first  of  the  two  doctrines  noted;  conse- 
quently the  cult  of  "method1'  received  little  but  ridicule,  and  in  so  far  as  it  had  de- 
veloped a  pose  to  hide  its  insufficient  learning,  its  pretensions  were  quickly  punctured. 
Under  the  fire  of  this  attack  many  unworthy  accretions  of  "professional  "lore  disap- 
peared— sentimentalism,  mystic  reverence  for  formulae,  a  not  infrequent  quackery; 
while  such  conceptions  as  survived  the  refining  process  were  eventually  accepted  for 
use  in  normal  school  and  university  alike. 

Apart  from  this  salutary  process,  however,  and  somewhat  preceding  it,  came  an 

1  These  two  points  of  view  are  well  stated  in  one  of  Superintendent  Monteith's  discussions.  See  State  ReportrlBt%, 
page  37. 


GENERAL  FUNCTION  77 

increased  mechanical  emphasis  on  what  the  university  primarily  stood  for,  namely, 
content.  In  Missouri  this  is  illustrated  by  the  change  that  came  over  all  the  institu- 
tions about  1900,  when  within  two  years  the  headship  in  each  was  transferred  to  a 
new  man.  The  university  high  school  inspector  and  former  state  superintendent  of 
public  schools  went  to  Kirksville  with  a  commission  from  the  president  of  the  univer- 
sity to  "go  and  put  scholarship  into  that  school.'5"'  The  president  of  Central  College 
at  Fayette,  Missouri,  went  to  Warrensburg,  and  a  successful  school  superintendent, 
a  graduate  of  the  state  university,  went  to  Cape  Girardeau.  The  effect  of  this  infu- 
sion of  fresh  academic  blood  became  immediately  apparent  in  the  announcements 
of  the  schools:  the  cultural  idea;  the  proposal,  in  order  to  make  teachers,  to  make 
" first  educated  men  and  women;"  the  notion  of  "a  broad  academic  foundation "  are 
all  insistently  emphasized.  Accordingly,  the  studies  considered  "academic"  were  set 
off  sharply  from  those  termed  "  professional,'1  and  commanded  a  certain  special  respect 
if  only  because  they  were  terms  shared  in  common  with  the  higher  academic  world; 
and  this  distinction  has  in  general  been  pronounced  even  to  the  present  day.  ~ 

The  influence  of  this  development  has  been  marked  both  on  the  students  and  on 
the  institutions.  In  effect  the  school  has  unconsciously  said  to  the  student:  "This 
academic  foundation  is  your  education;  it  is  of  prime  importance,  it  has  nothing  to 
do  with  teaching,  it  is  what  you  want  for  life,  it  will  serve  you  if  you  proceed  to  col- 
lege or  professional  school;  as  a  teacher-preparing  agency  we  are  obliged  to  hang  in 
your  belt  certain  tools  that  will  get  you  a  license  and  may  be  useful  if  you  teach,  but 
they  are  not  big  enough  to  be  in  the  way  if  you  do  not,  and  an  educated  person  ought 
to  have  them  anyhow."  Thus  its  very  endeavors  to  meet  more  satisfactorily  its  pro- 
fessional purpose  by  strengthening  the  academic  foundation  haye  created  in  the  nor- 
mal school  a  divided  aim  which  it  has  not  known  how  to  unify,  and  of  which  the 
various  other  centrifugal  tendencies  already  enumerated  have  taken  full  advantage. 

In  its  effect  upon  the  institution  itself  this  situation  has  been  positively  disastrous. 
With  the  emphatic  division  of  subjects  into  academic  and  professional  groups  came 
naturally  a  corresponding  division  of  the  staff.  Teachers  of  educational  subjects, 
including  the  practice-school  director  and  supervisors,  should  be  the  core  of  the  in- 
stitution; distinct  from  them  are  the  academic  instructors,  who  generally  will  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  practice  school  or  its  works.  In  members  of  the  academic 
staff,  pride  of  subject,  and  often  of  better  training,  has  bred  not  a  little  scorn  (car- 
ried over,  perhaps,  from  the  universities  from  whence  they  came)  for  the  department 
of  "pedagogy"  and  the  ill-paid  supervisors  of  the  training  school.  At  any  rate,  these 
academic  instructors  have  rarely  been  selected  for  their  knowledge  of  how  to  teach 
young  children;  their  interests  and  sympathies  are  elsewhere,  and  the  organization 
of  the  school  has  usually  failed  to  exact  of  them  responsibility  for  this  phase  of  their 
duty. 

In  some  normal  schools,  not  in  Missouri,  the  faculty  is  split  from  top  to  bottom 
on  this  line,  and  even  in  Missouri,  with  the  sole  exception  of  Springfield,  the  cleavage 


78  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

Is  apparent.  The  inevitable,  tendency  of  such  division  of  sympathy  and  purpose  is  to 
reproduce  itself  in  the  mind  of  the  student.  His  strictly  educational  courses  lack  con- 
viction because  they  lack  relation,  and  fail  of  the  illustrative  and  cumulative  force 
latent  in  the  so-called  "content"  subjects;  the  latter,  in  turn,  conceived  as  ends  in 
themselves  for  "general  education,"  terminate  often  in  a  series  of  blind  alleys  whence 
the  student  neither  gets  further  nor  sees  how  his  achievement  affects  his  main  purpose. 

g.  NOEMAL  SCHOOLS  SHOULD  TRAIN  TEACHERS 

It  is  the  judgment  of  the  authors  of  this  report  that  institutions  established  by  the 
state  to  prepare  teachers  as  public  servants  for  its  schools  should  make  that  business 
their  sole  purpose  and  concern.  The  character  of  such  preparation  is  a  question  of  ad- 
ministrative knowledge  and  policy.  It  will  depend  upon  the  amount  of  financial  sup- 
port available,  and  will  be  modified  by  the  varying  need  for  teachers  in  the  state  and 
by  the  rewards  offered  in  the  communities  to  be  served.  But  with  their  method  and 
specific  goal  thus  defined,  no  consideration  whatever  should  divert  such  schools  from 
their  task. 

The  grounds  for  this  conclusion  are  simple  and  obvious.  The  question  is  one  of 
institutional  economy.  Each  school  has  a  certain  amount  of  energy  expressed  in  terms 
of  its  annual  appropriation  plus  its  organization  and  permanent  plant.  With  this  en- 
ergy it  confronts  a  definite  and  difficult  task  contemplated  in  the  statute,1  namely, 
with  the  help  of  four  similar  schools  and  of  the  university,  to  place  a  competent  teacher 
in  every  teaching  position  in  the  state.  This  is  a  task  with  which  these  six  schools  have 
scarcely  begun  to  cope.  It  is  a  task  so  great  that  large  and  important  portions  of  it 
have  temporarily  to  be  farmed  out,  as  in  the  inevitable  allotment  for  the  present  of 
the  teachers  of  the  large  cities  to  the  city  training  schools,  and  of  rural  teachers  to  the 
high  school  training  classes.  Hitherto  the  schools  have  trained  a  few  teachers  thor- 
oughly, and  have  given  a  meagre  smattering  to  a  vast  number.  Even  the  few  have 
received  a  generalized  training  which  will  not  be  tolerable  longer  if  the  reasonable 
demands  of  educated  communities  are  to  be  met  in  Missouri  as  they  are  already  met 
in  some  other  states.  There  is  an  overwhelming  need  for  more  prolonged  and  more 
intensive  training,  extended  to  include  as  many  as  can  be  reached.  In  the  face  of  this 
heavy  obligation  which  the  state  lays  upon  the  normal  schools,  it  is  difficult  to  jus- 
tify the  proposal  of  any  school,  say  of  Cape  Girardeau,  to  use  its  share  of  the  all  too 
scanty  training  funds  to  develop  a  local  university,  This  means,  as  indicated  in  the 
prospectus  already  quoted,  to  relegate  its  training  of  teachers  to  an  inconspicuous 
department ;  to  promote  the  other  phases  of  collegiate  work  for  their  own  sake  and 
not  alone  as  they  produce  better  teachers;  to  fill  classes,  as  college  classes  are  BOW 
filled,  with  some  who  will  teach,  some  who  will  farm,  some  who  will  be  politicians, 

1The  Revised  Statutes  of  1909  declare  that  '''the  course  of  instruction  in  each  normal  school  shall  be  confined  to 
such  subjects  in  the  sciences  and  arts  as  are  usually  taught  in  normal  schools  and  necessary  to  Qualify  the  stu- 
dents to  become  competent  teachers  in  the  public  schools."  See  Chap.  106,  Art.  14,  Sect.  11071.  An  Act  of  1919  ex- 
tends this  to  include  **  such  subjects  in  the  arts  and  sciences  as  are  usually  taught  in  teachers'  colleges,  normal 
schools  or  schools  of  education."  Sect.  11075. 


GENERAL  FUNCTION  79 

and  many  who  have  no  specific  purpose;  in  other  words,  to  sacrifice  the  enormous 
advantage  of  momentum  and  morale  that  inheres  in  a  single  fine  idea  well  worked 
out,  for  a  round  of  inevitable  mediocrity.  For  the  school  has  at  best  wholly  insuffi- 
cient funds  for  its  present  logical  purpose — the  preparation  of  a  competent  teacher 
for  every  position  in  its  district.  To  take  over  other  projects,  as  these  are  conceived 
in  modern  education,  is  not  only  to  fail  in  its  proper  task  but  to  fail  altogether. 

The  case  of  Cape  Girardeau  is  especially  interesting,  inasmuch  as  for  many  years 
both  regents  and  administration  have  made  every  effort  to  realize  this  "larger" 
notion.  Elaborate  advanced  "college"  curricula,  special  scholarships  "for  graduates 
from  other  colleges,"  and  an  enthusiastic  literature  have  all  pushed  the  idea.  But  only 
a  single  graduate  has  as  yet  (1917)  gone  out  from  such  courses;  the  school  is  still 
as  solely  a  normal  school  as  is  any  of  the  other  four.  And  with  good  reason :  Cape 
Girardeau  has  taken  pride  in  being  a  good  school,  and  both  teachers  and  students 
have  dimly  perceived  that  it  was  impossible  to  be  a  good  normal  school  and  a  "great 
college"  on  the  same  appropriation.  There  is  doubtless  truth  in  the  claim  that,  as 
college  attendance  is  in  great  part  local,  more  southeast  Missourians  would  go  to  col- 
leo-e  if  they  had  one  nearby.  But  it  is  just  as  true  that  a  good  normal  school  is  a  pro- 
fessional school  throughout  and  cannot  be  an  arts  college;  if  it  wishes  to  conduct 
a  college  that  is  self-respecting,  it  must  have  double  funds,  separate  classes,  another 
faculty  selected  for  that  purpose,  and  so  on.  The  combination  is  not  a  happy  one  in 
any  place  where  it  is  now  on  trial,  and  the  logic  both  of  theory  and  experience  is 
against  it.  The  college  agitation  at  Cape  Girardeau  has  probably  done  good  rather 
than  harm;  some  public  interest  has  been  aroused,  and  a  college  foundation  may 
some  time  seize  the  imagination  of  the  wealthy  men  of  that  region  or  be  developed 
from  the  local  high  school  by  way  of  a  junior  college  as  elsewhere  in  Missouri ;  but 
the  obvious  way  to  help  in  bringing  about  this  result  is  for  the  present  institution  to 
discharge  its  own  peculiar  task  well,  and  to  fix  its  ambitions  on  becoming  the  best 
purely  professional  training  school  for  teachers  in  the  Middle  West. 

Cape  Girardeau  is  an  excellent  illustration  of  a  school  appropriated  body  and  soul 
by  the  local  community  in  the  hope  of  making  it  the  engine  of  local  ambitions.  The 
town  and  county  bought  the  school  in  the  first  place,  and  can  scarcely  be  blamed 
for  owning  it  now.  Fortunately  state  control  of  the  funds,  by  forcing  it  into  com- 
parison with  the  other  schools,  still  determines  its  general  line  of  action,  but  it  can 
probably  never  reach  its  maximum  power  until  it  acquires  a  controlling  board  dis- 
entangled from  local  concerns  and  sympathetic  with  its  proper  purpose.  Reimburse- 
ment of  this  and  the  other  counties  for  their  original  outlay  would  be  a  small  price 
to  pay  as  compared  with  the  benefit  of  independent  management, 

OBSTACLES  TO  PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING  ARE  DISAPPEARING 

Other  obstacles  to  an  exclusive  and  intensive  professional  development  in  normal 
schools  are  happily  vanishing.  Secondary  work,  to  which  the  normal  schools  have  hith- 


80  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

erto  of  necessity  been  tied,  seems  destined  early  to  disappear  from  them.  The  phe- 
nomenal increase  in  high  school  facilities  has  brought  secondary  education  within  the 
possible  reach  of  nearly  every  student,1  and  the  higher  institution  owes  it  to  the  lower 
to  turn  back  every  pupil  of  high  school  age  who  can  attend  a  local  or  neighboring 
school  before  coming  to  the  normal  school.  Many  of  these  country  high  schools  have 
large  contingents  who  come  in  for  the  week  from  the  surrounding  territory.  Especially 
where  training  classes  are  installed,  every  consideration  appears  to  favor  the  develop- 
ment of  local  training  centres  for  secondary  work.  Mature  persons,  for  whom  the  high 
school  makes  unsatisfactory  provision,  should  be  given  opportunities  elsewhere*2 

The  question  of  relation  with  other  higher  institutions  is  likewise  being  disposed  of 
successfully.  As  this  problem  has  existed,  however,  an  important  distinction  should  be 
made  clear.  It  is  one  thing  for  those  who  have  taken  a  strictly  professional  course  and 
who  expect  to  give  themselves  seriously  to  teaching  to  urge  that  they  be  allowed  to 
continue  their  preparation  in  other  institutions  without  loss  of  credit;  it  is  quite 
another  thing  for  persons  who  have  no  such  intention  to  demand  that  the  normal 
school  give  them  a  general  education  that  will  see  them  into  college  and  professional 
school.  For  the  first  group  adjustment  has  already  been  accomplished.  Two-year 
graduates  of  the  normal  school  may  enter  the  School  of  Education  at  the  university 
without  serious  loss  of  credit,  and  the  recent  conference  arrangement  between  nor- 
mal schools  and  university  provides  that  students  doing  four  years  of  standard  work 
at  a  normal  school  may  be  admitted  to  graduate  work  in  education  at  the  univer- 
sity. The  second  group  should  be  dealt  with  drastically,  as  the  institution  values  its 
professional  integrity.  If  elementary  and  high  school  instruction  in  this  country  is 
ever  to  be  cleared  of  its  traditionally  random  and  trivial  reputation,  training  agen- 
cies must  insist  on  a  curriculum  so  specific  in  character  as  to  make  its  choice  a  fateful 
step  in  an  individual's  career.  There  will  doubtless  always  be  quondam  teachers  who 
fail  and  practise  law,  just  as  there  are  quondam  physicians  who  fail  and  sell  insurance, 
but  it  is  intolerable  for  an  honest  training  school  so  to  relax  its  administration  and 
enfeeble  its  courses  as  to  put  the  transient  at  ease.  Every  normal  school  student  should 
feel  behind  him  a  full  tide  of  pressure  from  every  quarter  urging  him  to  teach  and  to 
do  nothing  else,  and  he  should  contribute  the  impetus  of  his  own  clear  decision  to  the 
general  impulse. 

UNITY  OF  AIM  INCREASING 

Finally,  in  the  professional  training  itself  there  are  discernible  strong  tendencies 
making  for  unity.  The  present  schism  in  staff  and  curriculum  was  the  result,  at  first, 
of  the  difficulty  of  securing  competent  teachers  of  academic  subjects  who  possessed 
likewise  a  thorough  training  in  education  and  successful  experience  in  teaching  chil- 
dren and  youth.  This  is  still  an  unusual  combination,  but,  thanks  to  rapid  growth  of 
schools  of  education  and  to  improved  product  in  the  normal  schools,  it  is  becoming 

1  See  page  297.          a  See  pag-e  300. 


GENERAL  FUNCTION  81 

less  rare.  In  the  case  of  the  curriculum,  the  result  seems  to  have  been  due  partly  to 
unsympathetic  instructors,  but  more  largely  to  a  desire  on  all  sides  to  swing  as  far  as 
possible  toward  the  collegiate  idea  and  away  from  the  earlier  attitude.  It  is  now  evi- 
dent that  this  emphasis  has  been  greatly  overdone.  The  normal  school  that  is  true  to 
itself  rinds  it  impossible  to  be  a  college.  A  genuine  professional  purpose  makes  itself 
felt  much  further  than  the  purely  technical  subjects;  it  governs  the  selection  of  mate- 
rial for  every  curriculum,  it  grips  every  course  that  is  offered,  and  that  in  no  perfunc- 
tory fashion  as  formerly,  but  with  a  clear,  scientific  conception  of  the  ultimate  aim 
in  view.  "With  a  mission  like  this,  why  waste  time  trying  to  be  a  college?"  is  the  con- 
vincing retort  of  the  modern  training  school.  Again,  if  this  clearer  definition  of  aim 
affects  the  attendance  of  men  at  the  schools,  let  the  situation  be  faced  frankly.  There 
is  nothing  to  be  gained  for  the  profession  of  teaching  by  catering  to  a  set  of  individ- 
uals who  definitely  intend  to  make  their  normal  school  course  and  a  year's  teaching 
a  step  to  other  work.  Such  a  procedure  cheapens  the  course  for  its  proper  candidates, 
and  advertises  most  effectually  that  teaching  is  a  makeshift  occupation  and  prepara- 
tion therefor  a  farce.  It  is  certainly  most  desirable  to  make  the  teaching  profession  at- 
tractive to  men;  but,  given  higher  financial  rewards,  the  surest  way  to  convince  them 
that  there  is  something  to  it  is  to  make  it  genuinely  selective  in  respect  to  length  and 
character  of  preparation.  If  they  cannot  be  held  on  these  terms,  there  is  no  help  for  it; 
any  other  condition  is  illusory  and  dishonest. 

A  NOEMAL  SCHOOLS  OBLIGATION  TO  THE  STATE 

The  efficient  teacher-training  school  of  any  grade  is  not  to  be  measured  by  college, 
university,  law,  medical,  or  other  liberal  or  professional  institutions.  These  operate 
indirectly  for  the  general  good,  but  their  direct  aim  is  rather  the  intellectual  or  voca- 
tional benefit  of  the  individual.  The  school  for  teachers,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the 
immediate  instrument  of  the  state  for  providing  a  given  number  and  quality  of  public 
servants  to  discharge  the  main  collective  obligation  of  society  to  the  next  generation. 
Salaried  staffs  of  physicians  or  lawyers  supported  by  state  or  city  for  the  whole  people 
would  imply  a  similar  function  in  medical  and  law  schools.  Even  so,  the  large  number 
of  teachers  required,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  doctors  and  lawyers,  would  tend 
to  elaborate  and  standardize  the  teacher-training  agencies  above  other  schools.  Private 
and  outside  sources  would  not  play  so  large  a  part,  nor  would  such  wide  individual 
variation  be  acceptable  in  preparing  five  thousand  as  in  furnishing  three  hundred. 

In  view  of  this  peculiar  relation  to  the  state  it  is  evident  that,  to  be  effective,  the 
training  institution  should  have  two  characteristics  in  a  preeminent  degree.  First,  it 
should  have  a  vivid  purpose.  Its  sole  aim  being  to  train  teachers,  every  item  of  its  or- 
ganization should  contribute  either  to  the  final  excellence  of  its  product,  or  to  the 
creation  and  maintenance  of  conditions  in  its  region  that  will  make  its  product  most 
successful.  Irrelevant  work  that  can  be  done  elsewhere  should  be  discontinued  as  soon 
as  possible;  bogus  or  uncertain  candidates  should  be  rejected;  diversions  of  aim,  how- 


83  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  'SCHOOL 

ever  attractive,  should  be  avoided.  The  school  should  do  one  thing  and  do  it  mightily. 
In  the  second  place,  it  should  be  wholly  responsive.  First  and  last  it  serves  the  state 
and  not  individuals;  as  an  efficient  instrument  it  must  be  sensitive  to  control.  New 
types  or  altered  numbers  of  teachers,  fresh  courses  to  be  added,  higher  standards  to 
be  set,  —  all  of  these  should  find  the  training  school  prepared  for  continual  and  auto- 
matic readjustment.  The  informed  and  authorized  directors  of  the  state's  educational 
policy — and  the  state  should  obviously  have  such  directors  —  should  not  find  them- 
selves helpless  because  of  institutional  conservatism,  opposition  of  alumni,  or  local  en- 
tanglements. To  ensure  this,  the  school  clearly  should  not  be  entrusted  to  an  irrespon- 
sible head  for  personal  exploitation;  the  measure  of  excellence  in  administration  should 
be  a  quiet  and  rapid  accommodation  to  the  changing  demands  of  the  state's  educa- 
tional authority.  The  loyalty  of  alumni  should  be  won,  not  for  persons  or  places,  but 
for  the  skill  with  which  the  school  does  its  work  and  for  its  flexible  adaptation  to  its 
duties ;  the  head  of  an  institution  who,  by  personal  appeal  to  numerous  or  powerful 
graduates,  seeks  to  swing  his  own  policy  at  all  costs  is  abusing  his  ti*ust.  Finally,  to  be 
responsive,  the  school  must  be  free  from  local  pressure  and  interference.  The  state  as 
a  whole  invariably  wants  for  itself  better  things,  and  defines  those  wants  more  wisely 
than  can  be  the  case  in  any  but  highly  developed  urban  districts.  To  tie  a  school 
down  to  the  limited  vision  of  a  small  area  is  to  deprive  the  community  of  that  margin 
of  superiority  which  the  whole  state  has  achieved  and  formulated. 


B.  SCOPE  OF  ORGANIZATION 

The  successful  administration  of  a  school  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  depends 
upon  a  precise  definition  of  the  ground  it  is  to  cover.  The  total  field  is  very  exten- 
sive, and  with  the  development  of  modern  educational  requirements,  presupposes  a 
multitude  of  curricula  and  a  wealth  of  equipment  unimagined  at  an  earlier  period. 
A  historical  survey  is  essential, 

1.  HISTORICAL  VIEW 

The  plan  of  operations  in  the  early  Missouri  normal  schools  is  nowhere  better  in- 
dicated than  in  the  following  paragraphs  from  the  Kirks ville  catalogue  of  1876,  under 
the  caption  "Professional  Department:" 

"The  Fifst  Year's  Work  embraces:  'How  to  Maintain  Vigorous  Health,'4 How 
to  Study,"  'How  to  Recite,'  'How  to  Organize  and  Govern  a  Country  School,' 
and  'How  to  Teach  the  Common  Branches."'  The  elevation  of  country  schools  is 
the  grandest  work  of  the  age  and  is  the  peculiar  mission  of  the  Normal  School* 
**  The  Second  Year's  Work  includes:  'Methods  of  Culture,'  'Practice  Teaching,* 
and  'Graded  Schools.'  Methods  of  culture  are  based  on  an  oral  course  in  men- 
tal philosophy.  Educational  principles  are  evolved,  and  these  are  made  the  basis 
of  the  art  of  teaching.  Teachers  are  fitted  to  take  charge  of  primary  and  gram- 
mar school  departments  of  graded  schools,  and  of  the  best  country  schools. 


SCOPE  OF  ORGANIZATION  83 

"  The  Third  Year  is  devoted  to  the  thorough  study  of  Psychology  and  methods 
of  cultivating  every  power  of  the  soul.  While  good  use  is  made  of  the  best  books 
on  mental  and  moral  philosophy,  much  of  the  instruction  is  necessarily  oral.  It  is 
left  for  the  future  to  produce  works  on  these  subjects  prepared  from  the  educa- 
tional standpoint.  The  value  of  the  third  year's  work  to  student  teachers  cannot 
be  estimated.  It  opens  up  to  the  student  a  new  world,  and  revolutionizes  his  mode 
of  thought.  Here  is  laid  the  solid  foundation  for  the  science  of  education,  and 
for  artistic  teaching.  Teachers  are  prepared  to  work  in  graded  and  high  schools. 

"  The  Work  of  the  Fourth  Year  is  directed  to  fitting  teachers  for  the  best 
positions,  such  as  principals,  assistants,  professors,  and  county  superintendents. 
The  teachers  of  this  grade  are  prepared  to  discuss  philosophically  the  great  edu- 
cational questions.  The  history  of  education,  the  philosophy  of  education,  the 
graded  and  high  school  work,  the  superintendency  and  the  institute  work,  en- 
gage special  attention."1 

The  interesting  feature  of  this  prospectus  is  the  fidelity  with  which  the  scheme 
reflects  the  situation  then  existing:  promotion  is  the  fundamental  idea,  and  consists 
in  mounting  the  educational  ladder  from  the  rural  school  to  the  graded  town  school, 
thence  to  the  high  school  and  superintendency,  to  be  followed  by  "institute"  or  normal 
school  work;  for  such  rise  in  the  scale  the  normal  school  course  Is  intended  to  prepare 
year  by  year.  One  grade  of  teaching  with  a  little  added  study  constitutes  suitable 
preparation  for  the  next;  the  thought  of  each  kind  of  work  as  a  goal  in  itself,  worthy 
of  extended  and  special  preparation  and  of  equal  dignity  with  any  other,  does  not 
occur.  For  the  rural  teacher  the  time  when  he  shall  become  a  "principal,  professor, 
or  county  superintendent"  is  the  zenith  of  desire;  when  at  the  summit  he  may  doubt- 
less aspire  higher.  This  conception  of  promotion  was  the  outcome  partly  of  primitive 
educational  economics,  partly  of  a  meagre  knowledge  of  teaching,  and  is  yielding 
but  slowly  as  reward  increases  and  professional  preparation  develops.  Altho  the  old 
notion  still  governs  much  of  our  practice,  we  are  to-day  nearer  the  time  when,  with  a 
prolonged  initial  preparation,  a  skilful  teacher  may  look  forward  to  recognition  and 
promotion  within  the  field  of  service  where  he  did  his  first  teaching. 

EARLY  WORK  CHIEFLY  FOR  ELEMENTARY  TEACHERS 

Candidates  for  the  two  advanced  years  of  the  early  curriculum  given  above  were 
few,  and  the  normal  schools  soon  found  that  their  chief  work  was  to  be  with  short- 
term  students  in  search  of  the  little  learning  that  would  enable  them  to  obtain  the 
low  grade  certificates  required  by  law.  In  1878  President  Baldwin  of  Kirksville  re- 
ported "over  forty  classes  daily  in  the  elementary  "  first  two  years  "and  but  ten  in  the 
advanced  course."2  "A number  attend  but  one  or  two  terms;  most  remain  from  one 
to  two  years."3  So,  too,  at  Cape  Girardeau  in  188$:  "Much  the  larger  part  of  the 
normal  work  is  necessarily  devoted  to  the  elementary  course."*  The  state  superin- 
tendent interpreted  the  situation  exactly  when  he  declared  : 

1  Catalogue,  KirTcsmlle,  1876,  page  22. 

2  State  Report,  1878,  page  217.  *  Ibid.,  1874*  page  45.          *  Ibid.,  1882,  page  169. 


84  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

"It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  chief  business  of  our  normal  schools  is  to  fit 
teachers  for  the  common  primary  and  grammar  schools  of  the  state.  We  can  from 
the  office  of  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools  furnish  at  almost  any  time  the 
applications  of  as  many  qualified  teachers  as  are  needed  for  all  the  public  high 
schools  in  the  state,  thoseof  St.  Louis  alone  excepted.  Our  common  district  schools 
in  the  country  are  suffering  for  the  want  of  improved  teachers.  It  is  the  manifest 
duty  of  our  normal  schools  to  aim  at  the  supply  of  this  demand.  Then  we  must 
arrange  in  such  a  manner,  if  possible,  as  to  allow  this  partially  fitted  teacher, 
after  a  brief  term  of  practice,  to  return  to  the  normal  and  increase  his  stock  of 
teaching  material  by  another  term  of  study."1 

The  normal  schools  took  up  this  task  with  loyalty  and  energy.  While  endeavor- 
ing to  maintain  standards  by  selective  examinations  for  promotion  and  graduation, 
the  institutions  became  genuine  evangelistic  centres  sending  into  the  highways  for  all 
who  could  be  persuaded  to  come  in.  "However  advanced,  or  however  backward,  stu- 
dents will  be  received  and  assigned  to  such  classes  as  they  are  prepared  to  enter." 3 
"  The  professional  course  is  arranged  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  most  advanced  stu- 
dents as  well  as  those  least  advanced."3  "Come  for  a  year  if  possible;  if  not,  a  single 
term  will  be  of  great  value.  While  only  brave,  determined  teachers  will  graduate,  all 
will  be  greatly  benefited,"  "  Nearly  all  our  students  are  from  the  rural  districts  and 
about  nine  tenths  of  them  pay  their  own  expenses  chiefly  by  teaching  in  the  public 
schools  of  the  state.  The  institution  is  organized  and  conducted  with  special  reference 
to  this  class  of  students."4  Such  expressions  abound  in  the  catalogues. 

The  gospel  was  preached  directly  also.  Joseph  Baldwin  at  Kirks ville  records:  "Each 
member  of  the  regular  faculty  aims  to  spend  all  vacations  in  institute  work.  During 
the  year  I  attended  twenty  institutes  and  besides  gave  a  considerable  number  of  edu- 
cational lectures — traveling  over  six  thousand  miles.  Professor  Greenwood  did  nearly 
as  much.  For  the  most  part  we  paid  our  own  traveling  expenses.5'5  James  Johonnot 
from  New  York  State,  the  second  president  at  Warrensburg,  rebelled  at  this,  claim- 
ing that  teachers  needed  the  summer  vacation  for  recuperation  and  further  study;6 
but  he  remained  only  a  short  time.  His  successor,  George  L.  Osborne,  and  all  his  fac- 
ulty, were  as  devoted  apostles  to  the  rural  teacher  as  was  Baldwin.  The  same  spirit  pre- 
vailed also  at  Cape  Girardeau,  where,  as  late  as  1895,  President  Vandiver  declared 
that  "any  teacher  who  draws  a  reasonable  salary  from  the  state  during  ten  months 
of  the  year  should  be  willing  to  spend  two  or  three  weeks  of  the  vacation  in  bringing 
the  cause  of  education  before  the  people  and  showing  them  the  advantages  of  the  nor- 
mal school.""7  It  was  undoubtedly  the  Baldwin-Osborne  energy  that  Missouri  needed 
at  this  time,  and  a  great  debt  is  due  these  whole-hearted  workers  among  the  rugged 
and  capable  but  uninstructed  youth  of  the  state. 


1  State  Report,  1871,  page  18. 

2  Catalogue,  Kirk&uille,  1878-74,  page  32.          8  Ibid.,  page  15.          *  Ibid.,  1879,  page  21. 
c  State  Report,  1872,  page  166.          6  Ibid.,  1873,  page  122.          7  Ibid,,  1895,  page  90. 


SCOPE  OF  ORGANIZATION  85 

OF  HlGH  SCHOOL  TEACHERS 

Meanwhile  preparation  for  advanced  positions  was  by  no  means  forgotten.  As  was 
seen  above  in  tlie  Kirksville  prospectus,  the  students  and  graduates  of  the  last  two 
years  were  intended  to  become  high  school  teachers  or  administrative  officers,  and 
this  part  of  the  school's  plan  receives  frequent  mention  in  the  reports  and  catalogues. 
"  While  we  labor  to  fit  our  graduates  for  teaching  in  graded  and  high  schools,  our 
principal  efforts  are  directed  to  preparing  teachers  for  the  common  schools  of  the 
state."  *  "  It  has  been  found  necessary  to  organize  classes  in  Greek  to  meet  the  wants 
of  those  preparing  to  teach  in  High  Schools."2  "'The  additional  training  offered  in  the 
advanced  section  is  intended  to  qualify  the  full  course  graduate  for  teaching  in  graded 
and  high  schools.  Our  judgment  in  this  respect  is  fully  confirmed  by  the  successful 
work  now  being  done  by  graduates."3  "The  classification,  gradation,  and  manage- 
ment of  graded  schools  is  given  special  attention  that  teachers  may  be  fitted  for  the 
best  positions  as  principals,  assistants,  and  superintendents.5'4  The  state  superintend- 
ent in  1871  found  the  tendency  to  do  advanced  work  at  the  outset  very  strong.  He 
says:  "The  Board  of  Regents  occupies  an  unenviable  position  midway  between  the 
praiseworthy  ambition  of  instructors  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  clamor  of  the  people 
for  trained  teachers  on  the  other.  The  instructor,  of  course,  prefers  to  turn  out  a  fin- 
ished job  and  is  inclined  to  retain  the  pupil  until  he  becomes  fitted  for  a  thorough 
high  school  teacher.  No  one  can  doubt  that  the  highest  possible  amount  of  personal 
culture  is  desirable,  even  in  the  teacher  of  the  primary  school.  But  the  people  cannot 
wait  long  for  something  a  little  better  than  that  which  they  now  have." 5 

NORMAL  SCHOOLS  AND  HIGH  SCHOOLS 

It  will  be  worth  while  to  digress  for  a  moment  at  this  point  and  note  how  second- 
ary education  in  Missouri  was  chiefly  built  up  —  a  consideration  that  may  throw  light 
on  the  relations  existing  between  the  normal  schools  and  the  high  schools.  In  1870 
the  number  of  tax-supported  schools  equipped  to  prepare  students  for  the  university, 
even  with  the  low  requirements  of  that  period,  was  certainly  fewer  than  ten,  and  these 
were  in  the  chief  centres  of  population.6  In  the  same  year,  however,  the  county  super- 
intendents report  sixty-seven  "high  schools,"  of  which  doubtless  a  good  specimen  is 
described  by  the  superintendent  at  Brookfield  in  Linn  County  a  year  or  so  later.  He 
says:  "In  the  higher  department  we  have  classes  in  algebra,  geometry,  physical  geog- 
raphy, and  Latin.  I  have  as  yet  seen  nothing  in  the  school  law  that  provides  for  the 
instruction  of  classes  in  those  higher  branches  of  study  in  our  public  schools.  The  pol- 
icy may  be  questionable  of  taxing  the  public  for  the  purpose  of  giving  an  academic 
education  to  the  few  who  may  wish  to  avail  themselves  of  it.  At  present  our  school  is 
attracting  numerous  pupils  from  other  districts,  and  it  has  already  become  an  insti- 

1  State  Keport,  1874,  page  45  (Kirksville),          *  Catalogue,  KirJcsvUle,  1874-75,  page  26, 
8  State  Report,  1894,  page  202  ( Warrensburg).  *  Catalogue,  KirTcsvitte,  1862,  page  56. 

6  State  Xlepwt,  1871,  page  18.  6  2Md.,  1873,  pa&e  28. 


86  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

tution  of  which  our  citizens  may  be  truly  proud."1  This  is  the  situation  in  a  nutshell: 
an  intelligent,  ambitious  community,  and  a  good  grammar  school  teacher  who  had 
studied  Latin;  tentative  beginnings  without  warrant  in  law;  pride  in  the  prestige 
secured  in  the  surrounding  region,  and  satisfaction  in  the  tuition  fees  from  outside 
pupils.  In  similar  and  smaller  communities  it  seems  probable  that  very  many  begin- 
nings were  made  by  enterprising  teachers  who  could  give  instruction  in  the  subjects 
requisite  for  a  teaching  certificate.  Such  centres  as  could  supply  this  instruction  be- 
came training  schools  for  the  whole  region  roundabout,2  and  these  incipient  normal 
schools — protuberances,  as  it  were,  on  the  elementary  schools  beneath — grew  and 
finally  took  independent  shape  in  one,  two,  or  three  year  high  schools.  In  the  East  the 
high  schools  were  generally  converted  academies  or  were  established  fully  formed  on 
that  model;  in  Missouri  the  typical  high  school  emerged  gradually  from  the  vigor- 
ous elementary  school. 

It  is  evident  from  the  nature  of  this  development  that  such  high  schools  as  these, 
in  so  far  as  they  were  related  to  any  higher  institution,  had  their  dealings  with  the 
normal  schools  where  their  teachers  were  prepared  and  to  which  many  of  their  stu- 
dents went  directly.  As  their  advanced  work  became  an  established  feature,  the  best 
of  the  elementary  teachers  were  assigned  to  it;  in  fact,  down  to  a  late  date  the  small 
high  schools  taught  little  else  in  their  first  year  than  grammar  school  subjects.3  The 
university,  on  the  other  hand,  when  it  began  to  be  conscious  of  the  importance  of  high 
schools  as  feeders,  took  formal  account  only  of  those  large  schools  that  could  prepare 
students  for  it.  Some  influence  in  behalf  of  the  university  was  doubtless  exerted  by 
teachers  in  small  schools  who  had  attended  the  sub-collegiate  training  department 
that  existed  during  this  early  period  at  the  university,  but  these  must  have  been 
quickly  outnumbered  by  teachers  sent  out  from  the  normal  schools. 

It  can  be  readily  understood,  therefore,  that  the  normal  schools  from  their  earliest 
moments,  knowing  of  these  scattered  efforts  to  develop  high  school  departments  out 
of  the  elementary  school,  and  aware  of  the  intimate  and  natural  relation  that  such 
efforts  must  bear  to  themselves  rather  than  to  the  university,  should  consider  it  a 
part  of  their  business  to  train  these  teachers,  who  at  that  time  could  really  be  trained 
nowhere  else.  In  1890,  twenty  years  after  our  previous  estimate,  twenty-seven  four- 
year  high  schools  are  reported,  together  with  thirty-eight  three-year  and  sixty-five 
two-year  schools;*  no  reference  is  made  to  the  probably  large  number  of  elementary 
school  centres  where  less  than  two  years  of  high  school  work  was  attempted.  By  far 
the  greater  portion  of  this  short  course  work  was  certainly  done  by  teachers  who,  if 
trained  at  all,  had  graduated  from  the  normal  schools  or  had  attended  them;  the  rela- 
tive proportions  may  be  judged  fairly  enough  from  the  present  situation,  when  the 
normal  schools  are  responsible  for  training  forty-six  per  cent  of  the  teachers  in  first 
class  high  schools  outside  of  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City;  seventy-three  per  cent  in  sec- 
ond and  third  class  schools;  and  seventy-six  per  cent  in  wholly  unapproved  schools. 

1  State  Report,  1873,  page  167.          2  Ibid.,  1871,  page  17.          8  Ibid.,  1900,  page  27.          *  Ibid.,  1889,  page  11. 


SCOPE  OF  ORGANIZATION  87 

With  such  an  overwhelming  personal  interest  and  concern  in  these  smaller  high 
schools  as  is  shown  by  the  above  figures,  it  would  have  been  indefensible  for  the  nor- 
mal schools  not  to  employ  every  means  at  their  disposal  to  strengthen  these  teachers 
as  much  as  possible.  The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  smaller  principalships  and 
superintendences.1  Many  a  normal  school  graduate  has  succeeded  as  a  teacher,  and 
has  stepped  ahead  into  an  administrative  position,  not  because  he  had  the  ideal  train- 
ing for  that  position,  but  because  there  was  no  one  with  better  training  who  would 
compete  with  him  at  that  level.  He  felt  at  home  in  the  normal  school  and  would 
return  thither  for  his  further  education ;  courses  that  would  help  him  were  the  natural 
sequel,  and  under  the  circumstances  cannot  be  fairly  criticised. 

HIGH  SCHOOLS  AND  UNIVERSITY 

As  the  normal  school's  sphere  of  influence  developed  upward  with  the  rapid  growth 
of  the  high  school  system  in  the  manner  above  described,  the  university  was  almost 
as  rapidly  extending  its  own  territory.  For  accredited  schools,  inter-university  and 
associational  agreements  determined  certain  standards  of  qualification  for  instructors 
which  the  normal  schools  could  not  meet;  unaccredited  schools  desiring  eventual  recog- 
nition sought  to  reach  the  university  standard,  to  the  prejudice  of  normal-trained 
teachers,  and  it  became  evident  that  if  the  normal  schools  were  to  hold  what  they 
had  come  to  consider  their  own,  an  entire  readjustment  must  be  made.  The  agitation 
for  this  readjustment  has  filled  the  years  since  1900  and  deserves  special  notice. 

READJUSTMENT  OF  NOKMAL  SCHOOLS  FOE  HIGHER  INSTRUCTION 

After  disposing  of  their  elementary  or  "sub-normal"  work,  the  normal  schools,  in 
1904,  took  the  first  radical  step  in  raising  their  curriculum  from  the  previous  four-year 
high  school  level.  It  was  mutually  agreed  to  organize  their  work  on  an  eighteen-unit 
basis,  and  to  allow  a  credit  of  ten  of  these  units  for  a  four-year  high  school  course, 
thus  making  it  necessary  for  a  high  school  graduate  to  complete  eight  units,  or  regu- 
larly two  years  of  work,  for  a  diploma  and  a  professional  degree.  This  brought  the 
last  two  years  of  the  normal  school  parallel  with  the  first  two  years  of  the  college  or 
university,  and  left  a  gap  between  normal  and  elementary  school  that  was  variously 
bridged.  In  the  same  year  the  University  of  Missouri  organized  its  School  of  Education, 
primarily  for  the  training  of  high  school  teachers  and  supervisors,  and  the  normal 
schools  at  once  announced  theij*  proposed  competition  by  offering  to  give  the  degree 
of  A,B.2  The  immediate  motive  for  this  action  is  said  to  have  been  the  failure  of 
negotiations  for  the  acceptance  of  normal  school  credits  by  the  university.  That  it 

1  Sixty-nine  per  cent  of  the  superintendents  in  towns  having  first  class  high  schools  in  1915  had  attended  Missouri 
state  normal  schools,  In  second  and  third  class  high  school  districts  eighty-five  per  cent  had  attended  normal 
schools.  Among  the  latter  are  counted  the  principals  of  the  schools  where  there  were  no  superintendents.  See 
page  376,  note  4, 

2  All  catalogues,  1904.  At  Warrensburg  this  proposal  was  withdrawn  in  1906,  but  was  introduced  again  in  1907.  Cape 
Girardeau  had  offered  the  A.B.  degree  since  1902. 


88  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

had  been  in  mind  for  some  time  for  other  reasons,  however,  is  clear  from  the  statement 
in  the  report  from  Cape  Girardeau  to  the  State  Superintendent  in  1901:  "The  nor- 
mal schools  must  offer  a  full  college  education.  They  must  reach  that  standard  grad- 
ually, but  the  purpose  should  be  plainly  stated  to  make  them  in  a  few  years  normal 
colleges."511  The  Kirks ville  catalogue  of  1903  discusses  the  question  as  follows:  "The 
normal  school  finds  itself  compelled  to  give  other  and  higher  courses.  For  the  past  two 
years  there  has  been  a  constant  and  increasing  demand  for  graduate  (i.e.  third-year) 
courses.  At  this  time  thirty  persons  holding  diplomas  of  normal  schools  and  col- 
leges are  working  in  our  various  graduate  classes.  Twenty-five  of  these  are  graduates 
of  our  own  four-year  (Le.  two-year  college)  courses.  They  claim  that  the  instruction 
which  they  can  get  here  is  more  concrete  and  better  adapted  to  their  purposes  than 
the  instruction  which  they  can  get  elsewhere."2 

All  of  this,  together  with  the  formal  establishment  of  a  full  college  curriculum  in 
1904,  would  seem  to  indicate  a  considerable  call  for  advanced  work.  Yet  in  spite  of 
the  "demand,"  it  was  not  until  1907  that  Kirks  ville  first  succeeded  in  graduating  a 
single  student  from  this  course,  and  one  more  was  given  the  degree  in  1908  after 
graduation  from  another  institution;  none  appeared  in  1909.  Eight  years  (1904—12) 
were  required  to  give  nineteen  students  the  four-year  degree;,  even  of  the  "thirty 
persons  in  our  various  graduate  classes"  reported  in  1908,  only  four  appear  to  have 
taken  the  three-year  diploma  in  that  year.  Cape  Girardeau  did  somewhat  better,  grad- 
uating twenty-seven  in  all  by  1912,  and  thirty-six  since  that  time  (1913-17).  Kirks- 
ville  graduated  one  hundred  forty-four  from  1912  to  1917.3 

RESULTS  OF  REORGANIZATION 

In  general  it  may  be  said  that  the  schools  have  been  able  to  provide  but  a  minimum 
of  genuinely  advanced  work  for  four-year  graduates,  most  of  their  courses  being  neces- 
sarily taken  with  freshmen  and  sophomores  and  some  even  with  secondary  students. 
Where  advanced  work  was  offered,  the  teachers  in  charge,  while  generally  capable,  have 
not  had  the  training  reasonably  expected  of  competent  directors  of  junior  and  senior 
college  work,  and  have  had  almost  their  whole  experience  with  secondary  or  early  col- 

1  State  Report,  1901,  page  63.          2  Catalogue,  KirTcsvitte,  1908,  page  12. 

8  The  movement  for  granting  bachelor's  degrees  has  been  confined,  largely  to  Cape  Girardeau  and  Kirksville.  War- 
rensburg has  participated,  but  to  a  smaller  degree  in  proportion  to  her  much  larger  enrolment.  Fifteen  had  taken 
the  degree  at  Warrensburg  up  to  the  time  this  study  was  begun  in  1914;  forty  more  had  graduated  by  1917, 
making  fifty-five  in  all.  Of  these  slightly  over  half  came  from  the  county  where  the  school  is  located— -all  but  three 
from  the  town  of  Warrensburg.  Of  the  sixty- three  graduates  from  Cape  Girardeau,  nine  were  from  the  faculty  or 
their  families,  while  twelve  lived  in  remote  parts  of  the  district  from  which  the  university  or  some  other  good 
college  is  equally  or  more  accessible;  forty,  or  sixty-three  per  cent,  including"  the  faculty  group,  lived  in  Cape 
Girardeau  or  close  by,  leaving  ten,  or  sixteen  per  cent,  to  represent  the  accessible  part  of  the  district  at  large.  One 
came  from  another  state.  At  Kirksville  eleven  were  regular  members  of  the  faculty  at  the  time  of  taking  the 
degree;  eight  of  these  received  degrees  without  doing  work  in  residence.  Nearly  three-fifths  of  the  four-year 
degrees  granted,  1907-16,  were  secured  by  residents  of  Adair  County.  The  residence  of  later  recipients  was  not  pub- 
lished. Reports  from  the  school  indicate  forty  per  cent  of  local  graduates  in  1917  and  1918.  Maryville  granted  her 
first  four-year  degrees  in  1917,  when  twelve  students  graduated;  fifteen  graduated  in  1918.  Of  these  twenty-seven 
students,  eighteen  lived  in  Maryville  or  close  by,  and  three  lived  in  adjoining  counties ;  two  others  were  already  col- 
lege graduates,  and  nine  were  paid  various  amounts  by  the  school  as  assistants.  Springfield  graduated  one  in  1918 
and  twenty-eight  from  1915  to  1917.  Ten  of  these  lived  in  Springfield  or  the  immediate  neighborhood ;  seven  came 
from  outside  the  district,  and  five  were  regularly  employed  members  of  the  teaching  staff. 


SCOPE  OF  ORGANIZATION  89 

lege  classes.  Thus  it  has  resulted  that  graduation  from  a  four-year  course  has  been 
merely  a  matter  of  amassing  a  sufficient  number  of  elementary  credits  of  an  almost 
unrestricted  variety, — a  practice  disapproved  by  all  reputable  colleges, — instead  of 
representing  definite  progress  in  sequence  thru  an  organized  curriculum  which  is  re- 
quired by  good  collegiate  procedure.  A  third  characteristic  calculated  to  cheapen  these 
courses  has  been  the  pace  at  which  they  have  been  taken.  Cape  Girardeau,  running 
nominally  on  a  schedule  of  fifteen  credit  hours  per  week,  has  permitted  an  actual 
median  of  seventeen  hours  for  the  collegiate  student  body  with  still  more  for  a  very 
large  proportion,  and  in  addition  has  allowed  a  differential  bonus  by  which  the  two 
highest  ratings  earned  respectively  fifteen  and  thirty  per  cent  more  credit.  At  Kirks- 
ville  this  speeding-up  has  taken  the  extraordinary  form  of  a  private  and  arbitrary 
distribution  of  credit,  based  solely  on  the  personal  judgment  of  the  head  of  the  in- 
stitution.1 

In  view  of  these  conditions,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  University  of  Missouri 
should  decline  to  accept  hour  for  hour  the  work  of  the  degree  courses  in  these  in- 
stitutions until  some  arrangement  for  acceptable  standards  of  work  could  be  made. 
Since  this  study  began,  such  an  arrangement  has  been  achieved,  and  the  conference 
agreement  of  June  2£, 1916,  stipulates  these  standards  and  provides  for  full  mutual 
recognition  of  credit.  It  now  remains  to  be  seen  to  what  extent  the  normal  schools  can 
meet  university  standards  for  advanced  collegiate  work  on  their  present  appropria- 
tions and  at  the  same  time  provide  satisfactorily  for  the  secondary  and  junior  college 
work  that  is  expected  of  them.  The  large  increases  in  the  one  hundred  twenty  hour 
classes  in  1917  and  1918  are  admittedly  due  to  the  new  arrangement.  Fairness  to 
their  students  should  therefore  inspire  the  schools  to  enforce  their  revised  standards 
to  the  letter. 

At  the  present  time,  as  in  their  early  careers,  the  Missouri  normal  schools  regard 
their  efforts  as  properly  catholic  in  scope  and  as  destined  to  comprise  the  preparation 
of  every  sort  of  teacher  "from  the  highest  to  the  lowest."  The  idea  is  clearly  stated 
in  one  of  the  catalogues  for  1916:  "The  function  of  the  normal  school  is  to  pre- 
pare efficient  teachers  for  all  grades  and  classes  of  public  schools  including  primary 
teachers,  rural  teachers,  grade  teachers,  high  school  teachers,  principals  and  superin- 
tendents. To  limit  it  will  of  necessity  make  it  less  efficient  at  all  points." 

2.  HOW  SHOULD  THE  SCOPE  0$  A  NORMAL  SCHQOI/S  ACTIVITIES  BE  DETERMINED? 

For  a  professional  institution  already  in  operation  the  question  of  the  ground  to 
be  covered  is  a  double  problem  of  resources  and  needs.  This  assumes,  however,  that 
the  character  of  the  proposed  curricula  and  their  cost  are  already  fully  understood. 
The  first  and  fundamental  question  to  be  answered  should  be :  What  does  it  imply 
in  number  and  quality  of  instructors,  in  equipment  and  organization,  to  give  in  a 
first  class  manner  the  kinds  of  training  in  view?  and  the  next:  How  many  of  these 

1  See  page  838. 


90  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

kinds  of  training  can  we  undertake  with  the  funds  at  our  disposal  ?  and  the  third  : 
Considering  the  types  of  teacher  needed,  and  the  other  agencies  supplying  them,  in 
what  direction,  if  at  all,  is  it  advisable  for  us,  as  experts  in  state  education,  to  urge 
the  extension  of  our  facilities?  The  precedence  which  an  institution  actually  gives 
these  questions  in  regulating  its  operations  is  a  very  fair  measure  both  of  its  sense  of 
obligation  to  the  state  and  of  its  right  to  be  considered  a  good  higher  institution. 

" STANDARD""  INSTITUTIONS  AND  OTHEES 

It  will,  of  course,  be  granted  that  past  and,  to  some  extent,  present  conditions  in 
raany  localities  interfere  seriously  with  the  normal  school  that  would  do  standard 
work;  the  need  is  often  such  that  apparently  the  only  justification  for  a  school's  ex- 
istence is  for  it  to  spread  itself  out  over  the  whole  field,  and  help  every  teacher  who 
applies  to  be  a  little  better  than  he  was  before.  Informal  efforts  of  this  kind  are  desira- 
ble and  necessary;  with  reading  circles,  correspondence  work,  and  other  loosely  organ- 
ized schemes  for  self-improvement  they  have  a  well-earned  place.  The  trouble  conies 
when  such  a  Chautauqua-like  institution  loses  its  power  of  self-recognition,  and  an- 
nounces that  its  all-inclusive  achievements  represent  the  best  that  men  know;  when 
it  seeks  to  match  its  uncritical  attitude  and  promiscuous  procedure,  however  well 
intended,  with  institutions  that  meet  national  standards. 

A  certain  school,  for  example,  decides  that  with  its  funds  it  is  justified  in  offering 
three  standard  curricula :  one  for  teachers  in  grammar  grades,  another  for  teachers  of 
intermediate  grades,  and  the  third  for  primary  teachers.  It  maintains  a  faculty  of  in- 
structors especially  trained  and  experienced  in  these  departments;  it  pays  them  $£500 
to  $8000  a  year,  employs  them  fifteen  hours  per  week,  and  provides  opportunity  with- 
out loss  of  salary  for  their  occasional  release  for  study.  It  discriminates  in  its  admis- 
sions to  the  curriculum,  selecting  only  those  students  who  are  well  prepared;  it  re- 
quires continuous  attendance  upon  instruction  in  fair-sked  homogeneous  groups  thru 
a  series  of  courses  organized  to  give  thorough  training  for  specific  positions.  Such  a 
school  deserves  to  be  called  a  "standard"  institution,  since  it  is  doing  its  work  under 
conditions  known  to  be  excellent.  Another  school  with  the  same  amount  of  income 
offers  to  train  teachers  of  every  kind.  It  has  a  staff  some  members  of  which  receive  fair 
salaries,  but  which  includes  many  of  its  own  recent  graduates  and  even  advanced  stu- 
dents who  are  teaching  for  credit  at  low  figures.  The  educational  equipment  of  most 
of  these  instructors  is  "  general; "  in  many  cases  their  only  experience  is  that  of  super- 
intendent in  a  small  town.  Shifts  from  one  department  to  another  are  not  uncom- 
mon. Teachers  must  instruct  for  twenty- five  periods  per  week,  in  the  summer  session 
sometimes  for  thirty-five,  and  take  time  off  at  their  own  expense,  if  not  at  their  own 
risk.  There  is  no  specific  entrance  requirement  for  students  except  a  general/'sizing- 
up"  at  the  office;  students,  if  sufficiently  plausible,  may  take  most  of  their  high  school 
work  while  going  thru  the  "college."  To  accommodate  one-term  students,  courses  are 
organized  in  twelve-week  or  even  six- week  fractions,  which  may  be  taken  topsy-turvy, 


SCOPE  OF  ORGANIZATION  91 

whenever  students  feel  like  coming.  Nearly  everything  is  elective;  the  same  classes 
admit  alike  those  who  will  teach  in  primary,  those  who  will  teach  in  intermediate,  and 
those  who  will  teach  in  grammar  grades,  as  well  as  others  who  will  seek  high  school 
positions  or  principalships,  and  still  others  who  are  piecing  together  four  years  of  such 
courses  for  an  "A.B."  Secondary  and  collegiate  students  recite  together;  as  many 
courses  as  possible  are  therefore  "general."1'1  Such  courses  are  likewise  justified  on  the 
theory  that  no  one  can  tell  until  after  two  or  more  years  of  this  treatment  just  what 
it  has  fitted  him  for.  Experience  proves  that  he  takes  the  highest  paid  job  of  any  kind 
that  turns  up?  regardless  of  his  "training."  To  cap  the  climax,  this  school  has  the 
courage  to  assert  that  its  performance  is  as  worthy  as  the  best,  and  to  demand  equal 
recognition. 

These  two  examples  illustrate  a  contrast  in  fundamental  conceptions  of  education. 
Given  the  same  amount  of  income,  the  first  school  is  its  own  severest  critic  at  every 
point,  while  the  second  criticises  only  those  who  attack  it.  The  first  asks  always,  "What 
is  a  suitable  and  adequate  training  for  this  position  ?"  and  "Can  we  provide  this  with 
our  resources?"  The  other  enquires  first,  "Is  there  anything  that  any  normal  school  or 
college  gives  that  we  do  not  offer?"  and  then  declares,  "Let  us  advertise  it,  and  give 
as  much  of  it  as  we  must  so  far  as  this  requires  no  additional  facilities  or  expenditure." 
One  is  a  genuine  moral  leader,  limiting  its  program  strictly  to  that  wherein  it  can 
express  the  whole  truth;  the  other  is  a  popular  and  stiperficial  educational  exploiter. 

Hence,  if  there  is  virtue  in  doing  a  thing  thoroughly  well  and  a  limit  to  legisla- 
tive appropriations,  it  is  impossible  to  endorse  the  above  quoted  declaration  that  to 
"limit"  a  normal  school  in  any  way  "will  of  necessity  make  it  less  efficient  at  all 
points."  We  justly  view  with  increasing  suspicion  individuals  and  institutions  that 
multiply  their  avowed  aims  while  their  resources  remain  the  same;  normal  schools  can 
be  no  exception.  In  every  other  form  of  human  effort,  to  limit  and  concentrate  is  to 
strengthen  and  achieve.  No  better  illustration  of  this  could  be  found  than  the  Spring- 
field school ;  more  than  ninety-nine  out  of  every  one  hundred  enrolled  there  have  re- 
ceived the  strictly  limited  type  of  training  in  which  the  school  is  strongest.  The  prod- 
uct has  been  relatively  sound  because  the  bulk  of  the  effort  has  been  expended  on  the 
one  thing  that  the  school  is  best  fitted  to  do.  Universalists  in  speech,  they  have  been 
for  the  most  part  Unitarians  in  practice. 

THE  PRESENT  POLICY  OF  MISSOURI  NORMAL  SCHOOLS — PRESSURE  OF  LOCAL  SITUATION 
The  real  explanation  of  the  announced  policy  of  these  schools  is  complex,  but  is 
not  difficult  to  determine.  It  is  partly  traditional.  As  already  indicated,  the  earliest 
programs  professed  to  fit  for  all  positions  successively.  The  schools  found  that  their 
graduates,  however  slightly  trained  therefor,  actually  rose  to  high  school  and  adminis- 
trative positions,  and  they  sought  to  promote  this  with  appropriate  courses  available 
by  the  way.  These  were  frankly  makeshifts  to  help  a  teacher  climb,  say3  from  the  sev- 
enth grade  to  a  high  school  position.  The  schools  wisely  made  no  pretence  at  an  or- 


92  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

ganized  curriculum  to  ensure  a  teacher  fully  competent  in  high  school  subjects,  for 
their  main  stress  was  elsewhere;  they  simply  did  the  best  they  could,  and  let  the  low 
salaries  of  the  positions  justify  the  inadequacies  of  preparation.  But  the  "universal" 
tradition  was  started,  and  the  leap  from  these  incidental  efforts  to  four-year  college 
courses  purporting  to  give  an  organized  training  for  higher  teachers  in  accordance 
with  collegiate  standards  both  of  curriculum  and  administration,  was  made  in  the  dark 
without  knowledge  of  what  was  involved. 

EXAMPLE  OF  OTHEU  INSTITUTIONS 

Again,  the  present  attitude  may  be  ascribed  partly,  in  some  institutions  at  least,  to 
a  sort  of  quasi-cornpulsion.  It  is  not  easy,  in  dealing  with  an  undiscriminating  public 
or  a  jealous  local  board,  when  sister  institutions  in  the  same  or  in  neighboring  states 
are  loudly  advertising  their  A.B.'s  and  B.S.'s,  to  convince  your  constituency  that  such 
a  course  may  be  undesirable  for  you.  The  reproaches,  too,  from  one's  professional 
colleagues  of  disloyalty  to  the  normal  school  "cause"  in  its  "fight  with  the  universi- 
ties" are  often  keen.  Warrensburg,  altho  the  largest  school,  has  had  until  recently  al- 
most no  graduates  above  the  second  year  of  college  work.  It  developed  its  regular  cur- 
riculum intensively,  and  probably  would  have  preferred  to  wait  until  longer  curricula 
could  be  placed  on  a  thoroughly  sound  financial  basis.  At  Springfield  and  Mary  ville 
this  would  possibly  also  be  true,  had  not  Kirksville  and  Cape  Girardeau  aggressively 
asserted  the  other  policy. 

EXPANSION  A  MATTER  OF  PRIDE 

A  third  contributory  motive  appears  in  the  following  quotations :  "It  is  impossible 
to  prevent  ambitious  young  teachers  from  working  up  from  the  elementary  schools  to 
the  high  schools.  It  is  impossible  for  the  normal  schools  to  command  the  respect  of 
teachers  if  their  graduates  are  thus  limited.111  "If  it  were  established  and  understood 
that  our  normal  school  graduates  were  not  to  be  accepted  as  high  school  teachers  nor 
considered  eligible  for  small  principalships,  we  should  soon  see  none  but  the  poorest 
talent  presenting  itself  for  entrance  at  the  doors  of  these  institutions.  Strong  people 
would  go  elsewhere.""2  If  we  mistake  not,  what  speaks  here  is  an  institutional  pride 
that  balks  at  the  acknowledgment  to  its  patrons  that  there  is  anything  the  institution 
cannot  do  for  its  students.  In  so  far  as  this  attitude  is  not  one  of  mere  self-aggran- 
dizement, the  normal  schools  would  seem  to  be  the  victims  of  conditions  about  thera — 
conditions  which  in  turn  are  fostered  and  aggravated  by  the  policy  of  the  schools. 
Promotion  has  filled  the  eye  rather  than  fitness  for  a  given  position  — the  future  of  the 
individual  rather  than  the  advantage  of  the  school  in  which  he  is  to  teach.  The  eco- 
nomic situation  and  the  certificate  regulations  have  permitted  this,  it  is  true,  but  it 
is  none  the  less  deplorable  that  a  student  with  a  minimum  of  specific  preparation  for 
elementary  work  should  be  allowed,  thru  a  series  of  years,  to  fill  his  pockets  out  of  that 

1  State  Report,  1901,  page  53.          2  Ibid,,  1897,  pagre  29. 


SCOPE  OF  ORGANIZATION  93 

job  while  he  is  seeking  training  for  a  high  school  position,,  a  principalship,  or  for  busi- 
ness. The  presence  of  this  type  of  student  has  enlarged  and  flattered  the  institution, 
but  it  has  placed  it  in  a  false  light.  Students  ostensibly  preparing  for  elementary 
work  suddenly  appear  in  something  wholly  different  or  leave  the  profession,  and  the 
normal  school  is  directly  responsible.  An  oft-repeated  argument  in  Kirksville  cata- 
logues in  behalf  of  the  four-year  college  course  is  that  elementary  schools  need  as 
well- trained  teachers  as  the  high  schools — a  thesis  that  all  sincere  students  of  edu- 
cation have  long  endorsed.  The  subtlety  of  it  in  this  case  appears  when  it  is  seen  that 
the  school  offers  no  three  or  four  year  curricula  for  elementary  work,  and  that  such 
graduates  uniformly,  and  the  two-year  graduates  usually  or  very  often,  go  into  small 
high  schools  or  into  principalships  and  superintendences,  to  the  palpable  satisfaction 
of  the  normal  school  authorities.  Apparent  enthusiasm  for  the  downtrodden  elemen- 
tary school  thus  eventuates  in  a  college  for  high  school  teachers  and  superintendents. 
The  almost  inescapable  danger  here  is  a  two- fold  mediocrity:  a  skimped  preparation 
for  elementary  teaching  and  a  higher  training  that  cannot  be  first  class.  The  know- 
ledge of  this  fact  is  no  critic's  secret.  Student  opinion  on  the  point  could  not  be  ex- 
haustively tested,  but  in  the  few  cases  both  at  Cape  Girardeau  and  at  Kirksville  where 
opinions  were  secured,  the  students,  altho  in  general  loyal  to  the  school,  felt  that  its 
higher  degrees  were  not  desirable.  Only  one,  a  Kirksville  graduate,  felt  resentful  at 
having  his  A.B.  degree  from  the  normal  school  heavily  discounted  at  the  university, 
altho  he  admitted  receiving  credit  at  the  normal  school  for  five  specified  courses  he 
had  never  taken.  One  is  puzzled  to  see  how  u  respect"  for  such  training  is  an  asset  to 
any  institution.  "Strong  people"  certainly  will  go  elsewhere  under  such  circumstances, 
and  only  those  will  remain  who  fail  to  grasp  the  situation,  or  who  by  extravagant 
rewards  of  credit,  as  at  Kirksville,  are  deluded  into  thinking  they  can  save  much  time. 
On  the  other  hand,  we  have  innumerable  instances  throughout  the  country  of  normal 
schools  that  have  set  themselves  to  do  a  limited  task  well  and  which,  precisely  because 
of  that  fact,  are  plentifully  provided  with  high  grade  students.  Certain  it  is  that  the 
only  sure  way  for  an  institution  to  deserve  the  respect  even  of  its  own  graduates  is  to 
convince  them  of  its  integrity  and  provide  them  with  a  training,  however  limited,  of 
which  they  need  not  be  ashamed  anywhere. 

PERSONAL  EXPANSION 

There  is,  however,  another  phase  of  this  motive,  latent  in  many  institutions  and 
active  wherever  an  ambitious  and  not  over-scrupulous  organizer  finds  a  malleable 
board  and  a  free  field.  The  motto  of  this  purpose  is,  "A  big  institution,"  behind  which 
lurks  the  hoped-for  inference,  a  A  big  president."  The  method  is  first  to  construct  a 
"demand"  and  thereafter  to  expand  the  school  to  meet  it.  If  skilfully  undertaken^  a 
"demand"  may  be  constructed  in  a  few  hours  by  putting  into  the  mouths  of  several 
patrons  or  school  boards  cordial  agreement  with  the  far-sighted  suggestions  of  the 
president,  and  presently  the  whole  student  body  may  be  discovered  by  the  same  method 


94  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

to  be  clamorous  for  anew  department  or  degree  even  the  not  one  of  them  remains  to 
take  it.  "  Our  students  demand"  or  "Many  letters  from  school  boards  urge"  is  a  flexi- 
ble sort  of  evidence  that  needs  seldom  be  produced.  Of  course  such  "appeals"  are  "irre- 
sistible" and  "  must  be  satisfied,"  the  ultimate  victims  being  students  usually  ignorant 
of  any  other  institution  and  without  means  of  judging  the  true  worth  of  what  they  are 
getting,  students  who  are  flattered  by  being  urged  to  stay  on  for  "advanced"  work. 
Nothing  is  easier  than  to  impose  on  students  in  this  fashion.  The  method  followed  is 
to  suppress  all  criticism ;  if  the  school  gives  a  course,  it  is  ipso facto  the  best  course  that 
can  be  given  in  that  subject,  and  ranks  with  any  course  by  the  same  name  anywhere. 
In  spite  of  meagre  equipment  and  their  own  hesitation,  teachers  are  led  to  regard  it 
as  a  species  of  disloyalty  to  suggest  to  students  that  they  can  take  advanced  work  more 
profitably  at  other  places.  Blind  faith  in  the  familiar  institution  becomes  a  shibboleth 
to  young  minds.  The  school  literature  is  an  instrument  of  blatant  self-adulation  or 
bombastic  compliment:  American  schools  are  "considerably  better  than  those  in  Eng- 
land, Prance,  and  Germany;"  those  in  the  region  concerned  are  "as  good  as  any  to  be 
found  anywhere  in  the  world;"  the  school  itself  is  always  a  "great"  school;  its  faculty 
"represents  the  training  of  many  great  universities,"  including  the  "University  of 
Leipsic  and  University  of  Wurzburg;"  whereas  fewer  than  half  of  the  teachers  have 
even  bachelor's  degrees  from  a  first-class  institution,  over  a  quarter  having  the  ques- 
tionable degree  of  the  institution  itself.  As  for  students,  "graduates  of  eastern  univer- 
sities come  here  to  school" — this  on  the  strength  of  a  local  graduate  who  had  been 
East  to  college  and  who,  returning  to  his  home  in  the  school  town  for  the  summer, 
registered  for  a  casual  course  that  attracted  him.  A  course  in  surveying  tempts  young 
men  under  the  guise  of  "Engineering;"  the  first  essays  at  animal  husbandry  parade  as 
"Thremmatology;"  while  "Farm  Machinery"  from  a  textbook  and  expounded  by  a 
student  just  graduated  from  the  school  sounds  as  important  and  receives  as  much  local 
credit  as  the  course  at  the  university  given  by  trained  and  experienced  men  in  an 
extensive  laboratory.  Meantime  the  doctrine  of  "sound  scholarship,"  the  "highest 
attainable  standards,"  and  so  on,  is  set  forth  with  great  unction,  while  "Democracy 
in  Education"  glorifies,  and  perhaps  grimly  justifies,  the  whole. 

A  decent  regard  for  honesty  and  justice  revolts  at  this.  There  is  possibly  no  ob- 
jection to  a  stated  supporting  an  institutional  plaything  for  one  individual  if  it 
wishes  to  do  so,  but  to  jeopardize  the  future  of  its  young  students  by  exposing  them 
to  continued  misrepresentation  is  another  matter,  A  student  in  a  state-supported 
institution  is  entitled  at  any  time  to  candid  and  accurate  information  with  regard 
to  the  current  value  of  the  work  that  he  is  doing,  both  in  individual  courses  and  in 
his  curriculum  as  a  whole.  The  curse  of  the  old  private  educational  enterprises  lay 
in  the  commercial  interest  felt  by  the  institution  in  retaining  the  student  as  long  as 
possible;  state  education  is  in  a  sorry  plight  if  it  duplicates  the  same  vice  and  for 
a  still  more  ignoble  purpose.  It  should  be  the  distinctive  feature  of  a  state  system 
that,  however  much  or  little  it  can  offer  its  citizens,  it  can  at  least  give  them  reliable 


SCOPE  OF  ORGANIZATION  95 

and  disinterested  counsel.  Its  schools  should  make  it  their  first  duty  to  say :  "The 
instruction  that  you  need  is  given  best  at  X;  we  offer  it  here  for  those  who  cannot 
go  elsewhere,  but  we  lack  the  proper  facilities."  They  will  then  beget  confidence  when 
they  say:  "This  other  thing  we  do,  so  far  as  we  know,  as  well  as  it  is  done  anywhere." 
A  student  so  counseled  not  only  shapes  his  career  successfully  according  to  national 
standards,  but  has  had  from  both  state  and  institution  a  priceless  lesson  in  downright 
intellectual  honesty. 

SERVICE  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  IN  ENFORCING  THE  IDEA  OF  PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING 

Finally,  the  normal  schools  have  been  moved  by  another  consideration  which  goes 
far  to  justify  their  whole  position.  Their  contention  has  been  that  "there  can  be  no 
harmony  or  unity  in  the  education  of  a  teacher  if  his  scholarship  is  received  in  a 
college  where  he  is  trained  to  be  indifferent  to,  if  not  positively  antagonistic  to,  the 
pedagogical  training  that  he  is  expected  to  get  in  the  normal  school."1  The  same 
writer  urges  that  as  colleges  and  universities  will  not  grant  proper  credit  for  work 
done  in  a  normal  school,  "teachers  must  get  their  scholarship  and  their  pedagogical 
training  in  the  same  school."  The  successful  normal  school  director  has  seen  intensive 
professional  training  for  elementary  teachers  bear  remarkable  fruit ;  he  knows  that  the 
graduate  of  our  best  normal  schools  is  capable  of  giving  instruction  that  is  amazingly 
superior  to  the  teaching  of  the  college  graduate  who  is  without  professional  training. 
He  knows  this  to  be  due  to  the  persistent  conservatism  of  college  and  university  with 
regard  to  scientific  education.  Therein  it  is  impossible  not  to  agree  with  him.  With 
the  same  skilful  selection  of  teachers,  the  same  discriminating  admission  of  students, 
the  same  careful  construction  and  administration  of  its  curricula,  the  same  thorough 
testing  and  practical  training  of  its  candidates,  that  are  now  characteristic  of  the  best 
training  schools  for  elementary  teachers  in  this  country,  the  teachers  college  of  the 
future  will" abundantly  justify  its  existence,  and  will  usher,  in  the  really  professional 
secondary  instructor. 

CRITICISM  BY  UNIVERSITIES  PARTLY  ILL-FOUNDED 

The  past  and  present  situation,  however,  deserves  further  analysis.  The  reluctance 
of  higher  institutions  to  accord  full  recognition  to  the  work  done  in  normal  schools 
has  been  of  a  twofold  character:  In  the  first  place,  they  have  seriously  questioned  the 
right  of  the  study  of  education  to  a  place  among  other  accepted  subjects  of  scientific 
instruction  and  research;  in  the  second  place,  they  have  questioned  whether  individ- 
ual normal  schools  were  conducting  that  study  in  a  fashion  entitled  to  the  credit  of 
which  the  subject  itself  might  be  worthy.  In  so  far  as  this  hesitation  has  been  sincere 
and  not  the  result  of  prejudice  or  institutional  feeling,  it  has  been  wholly  proper* 
The  first  objection  has  borne  with  equal  weight  on  departments  of  education  within 
the  colleges  and  universities  themselves,  and  has  not  yet  wholly  disappeared.  It  has 

1  State  Report,  1901,  page  171, 


96  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

compelled  the  newcomer  to  fight  for  his  place,  and  has  thereby  required  him  to  refine 
and  improve  the  organization  of  his  subject  in  order  to  defend  it  against  concentrated 
criticism.  It  has  but  repeated  the  history  of  every  new  claimant  for  academic  approval, 
that,  for  example,  of  the  study  of  science  or  history,  or,  more  recently,  sociology.  In 
all  essential  respects,  however,  this  fight  for  admission  has  now  been  won.  The  depart- 
ment or  school  of  education  has  achieved  freedom  and  dignity  in  an  ever  increasing 
number  of  higher  institutions.  Moreover,  the  work  done  by  good  normal  schools  shows 
marked  similarity  in  spirit  arid  method  to  that  performed  in  college  and  university 
centres.  The  ideals  of  the  profession,  and  of  professional  training,  as  now  set  forth 
by  the  best  representatives  of  both  types  of  institution  are  virtually  identical. 

The  second  objection, however  productive  of  bitter  and  often  justifiable  resentment, 
was  also  inevitable.  It  should  be  remembered  that  at  the  date  of  the  quotation  cited 
above  (1901),  the  Missouri  normal  schools  were,  by  their  own  admission,  little  more 
than  high  schools;  they  admitted  students  at  the  age  of  fifteen  practically  from  the 
elementary  school;  it  was  yet  three  years  before  their  advanced  curriculum  was  made 
even  nominally  to  parallel  lower  class  college  work.  Surely  any  wise  college  adminis- 
trator would  think  twice  before  allowing  full  value  to  untested  transitional  credit  of 
this  sort.  Add  to  this  the  later  administrative  practices,  such  as  those  at  Kirksville, 
that  would  admit  astudent  at  thirteen, allowing  him  at  fourteen  to  begin  earningucol- 
lege"  credit,  and  to  keep  "  college"  and  high  school  work  parallel  for  from  two  to  five 
years,  and  any  self-respecting  college  would  reject  the  entire  institution  at  once. 

It  is  true,  however,  that  all  along  much  excellent  work  has  been  done  for  which 
credit  in  other  institutions  could  not  be  secured.  The  spectacle  is  instructive:  six 
wholly  autonomous  state  institutions  doing  to  a  certain  extent  the  same  work,  each 
standing  on  its  rights  and  dignity  and  keeping  the  others  at  bay  for  a  dozen  years, 
simply  because  there  was  no  agency  that  could  step  in,  investigate  the  trouble,  and 
secure  an  understanding !  The  institutional  spirit  of  fifteen  years  ago  was  not  the 
cooperative  spirit  of  to-day.  "The  longest  pole  gets  the  persimmons'"  was  the  univer- 
sity's reply  to  one  normal  school  president  when  seeking  an  agreement,  and  general 
competition  was  the  result.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  normal  schools  took  the 
surest  way  to  forfeit  the  confidence  of  their  more  advanced  rivals.  Subject  to  no  inspec- 
tion or  critical  review,  they  begged  the  question  in  the  easiest  manner  by  claiming 
to  do  everything,  and  thereby  made  a  pedagogical  blunder  that  retarded  their  cause 
and  the  reputation  of  professional  training  as  much  certainly  as  the  conservatism  of 
the  university  ever  did.  If,  while  agitating  vigorously,  they  had  first  pushed  for  high, 
intensive  excellence  in  their  regular  work,  matching  or  surpassing  therein  the  college 
when  measured  by  its  own  standards,  and  had  then  slowly  added  what  they  could 
fully  maintain,  the  past  decade  of  their  inter-institutional  relations  would  have  been 
totally  different.  Instead,  the  catalogues  reverberated  with  proposals  that  every  one 
knew  had  no  basis  either  in  suitable  instructors  or  in  necessary  appropriations,  to  say 
nothing  of  students;  meanwhile  the  change  in  policy  and  the  new  emphasis  which 


SCOPE  OF  ORGANIZATION  97 

was  attempted  could  not  fail  to  Injure  the  relatively  less  advanced  work  which  the 
schools  were  obliged  to  maintain. 

These  efforts  at  expansion  have  been  unfortunate  for  another  reason.  Normal 
schools,  unlike  law  or  medical  schools,,  profess  to  stand  primarily  for  the  processes  of 
sound  education  in  general,  and  to  reveal  by  precept  incorporated  into  practice  the 
true  morality  and  economy  of  mental  growth;  when  a  normal  school  or  school  of  edu- 
cation sacrifices  this  honor,  it  abandons  its  most  precious  and  characteristic  trust. 

THE  SCOPE  OF  AN  INSTITUTION'S  WORK  SHOULD  BE  DETERMINED  IN  VIEW  OF  ALL  THE  FACTS 
If  the  above  analysis  is  correct ;  if  the  normal  schools  have  too  lightly  undertaken 
a  serious  responsibility  because  others  would  not  meet  it  properly,  or  because  they 
themselves  sought  the  prestige  involved,  or  because  they  regarded  it  as  their  tra- 
ditional right,  or  because  other  normal  schools  were  expanding,  the  inference  is  not 
that  normal  schools  should  not  enlarge  their  scope.  To  be  sure,  none  of  these  grounds, 
except  possibly  the  first,  can  be  considered  valid.  If  training  for  high  school  teachers 
is  not  well  given  elsewhere,  it  is  by  all  means  the  duty  of  the  normal  schools  to  agi- 
tate and,  if  necessary,  to  appeal  for  funds  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  do  the  work  in 
a  suitable  manner  themselves. 

There  may  be  other  valid  grounds.  Whether  there  are  or  not  is  the  third  problem 
that  confronts  a  school,  after  it  has  determined  what  standard  training  is  and  what 
surplus  funds,  if  any,  it  has  for  extension.  These  latter  questions  concern  each  school 
alone;  but  the  problems  of  functional  enlargement,  restriction,  or  readjustment  are 
matters  that  can  be  properly  determined  only  in  cooperation,  as  they  depend  wholly 
on  the  needs  of  the  state  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  performance  of  all  of  its  agencies 
taken  together. 

Cooperation  of  the  sort  here  contemplated  demands  a  definite,  intelligent,  and  re- 
sponsible procedure.  Here,  for  example,  is  a  school  that  has  never  given  a  four-year 
degree,  but  has  administered  two-year  curricula  excellently.  Shall  the  president,  emu- 
lating the  example  of  others,  get  together  by  hook  or  by  crook  a  group  of  three  or 
four  students  whom  he  can  persuade  to  stay  thru  in  order  to  give  the  school  the  mys- 
tic blessing  of  a  "four-year  class"?  We  have  already  seen  the  kind  of  fraud  on  the 
student  that  such  an  attempt  may  perpetrate.  Or  shall  he  be  required  to  take  his  pro- 
posal before  his  colleagues,  say  a  board  consisting  of  the  heads  of  normal  schools  and 
of  the  university  school  of  education  together  with  the  state  superintendent?  Shall  he 
be  asked  to  show  why  his  candidates  would  not  be  much  better  off,  both  as  individ- 
uals and  as  eventual  servants  of  the  state,  at  another  normal  school  already  doing 
acceptable  four-year  work,  or  at  the  university?  If,  after  prolonged  and  thorough  in- 
vestigation by  this  group,  it  became  plain  that  the  university  and  four  other  insti- 
tutions with  organized  standard  four-year  curricula  were  unable  to  supply  the  de- 
mand, and  that  there  was  the  prospect  of  substantial  attendance  on  such  work  in  the 
fifth  school,  this  executive  could  have  the  support  of  tested  and  trustworthy  evidence 


98  PURPOSE  OF  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

in  asking  funds  to  establish  his  new  curriculum  in  a  proper  way.  Anything  short  of 
such  carefully  considered  action  is  a  failure  in  educational  planning. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  CRITICISM  NEEDED 

There  is  no  limit  to  which  the  continual  joint  expert  study  of  this  functional  growth 
and  readjustment  should  proceed.  It  is  far  more  important  than  the  unification  of 
material  administration  thru  a  single  board,  altho  undoubtedly  it  would  be  much 
facilitated  thereby.  The  executive  heads  of  these  institutions  are  the  staters  selected 
agents  for  dealing  with  its  teacher  supply.  The  latter  is  a  growing,  shifting,  never 
ending  problem  quite  beyond  the  successful  grasp  of  laymen.  The  logical  and  neces- 
sary thing  is  to  require  these  gentlemen  as  a  single  body  to  regard  the  state's  problem 
as  their  own  in  its  entirety,  and  not,  as  at  present,  as  a  districted  problem  which  each 
may  dispose  of  at  will.  In  this  manner  each  president  should  become,  in  a  way,  presi- 
dent of  the  whole,  and  see  his  particular  institution  as  part  of  the  whole  organism.1 


1  See  page  66. 


VI 
PERSONNEL  OF  THE  MISSOURI  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

A.  TEACHERS1 
AGE,  SEX,  AND  PARENTAGE 

IN  Its  five  normal  schools  the  state  maintains  some  two  hundred  instructors.  Nearly 
one- half  are  women.  Two-thirds  are  under  forty  years  of  age,  the  median  age  of  the 
women — thirty-three — being  some  five  years  less  than  that  of  the  men.  About  two- 
thirds  also  are  of  American  parentage,  and  nearly  one-half  were  born  in  Missouri.  Of 
the  men  two- thirds  came  from  agricultural,  one-sixth  from  professional,  and  one-tenth 
from  commercial  families.  Of  the  parents  of  the  women  one- third  were  engaged  in 
trade,  slightly  less  than  one-third  in  agriculture,  and  one-fifth  in  professions. 

EDUCATIONAL  EQUIPMENT 

Concerning  the  education  and  experience  that  may  be  determining  elements  in  a 
teacher's  success,  only  the  more  general  facts,  such  as  institutional  attendance,  de- 
grees, and  years  of  various  kinds  of  experience,  are  statistically  measurable.  These  are, 
however,  most  suggestive.  In  the  case  of  an  occasional  individual  they  may  be  mis- 
leading; some  unschooled  genius  may  tower  in  ability  above  a  man  with  many  de- 
grees. Nevertheless,  other  things  being  equal,  twenty  college  graduates  are  practically 
certain  to  excel  any  similar  group  composed  of  those  who  have  graduated  from  high 
school  only.  Moreover,  such  facts  become  increasingly  trustworthy  the  larger  the 
group. 

Remembering  how  home  environment  affects  the  choice  of  a  profession,  it  is  inter- 
esting to  find  that  four-fifths  of  the  men  and  about  seven-tenths  of  the  women  who 
teach  in  the  normal  schools  of  Missouri  come  from  families  that  include  other  teach- 
ers.2 As  the  same  thing  is  true,  altho  to  a  smaller  degree,  of  the  state  university  and 
college  teachers,  and  also  of  prospective  teachers  now  in  the  normal  schools,3  with 
the  exception  of  Harris  Teachers  College  at  St.  Louis,  one  appears  to  be  dealing  here 
with  a  distinct  vocational  characteristic,  —  families  that  already  include  teachers  are 
likely  to  provide  others ;  teachers  in  general  represent  families  to  which  school  affairs 
are  more  or  less  familiar. 

SECONDARY  AND  HIGHER  TRAINING — DEGREES 

Secondary  education  in  one  form  or  another  has,  of  course,  been  completed  by  all 
normal  school  teachers.  Two-thirds  received  their  training  in  the  public  high  schools; 
nearly  one-sixth  received  their  secondary  training  either  wholly  or  in  great  part  in 
academies  or  in  the  secondary  departments  of  normal  schools  or  of  small  colleges;  and 
the  remaining  sixth  experienced  various  combinations  of  such  schools. 

1  For  a  description  of  the  data  upon  which  the  statements  in  this  section  are  based,  see  pages  401,  402. 

2  See  page  419.  a  See  page  432. 


100  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

Higher  education  is  recorded  chiefly  in  the  number,  kind,  and  source  of  the  degrees 
received.  Twenty -nine  per  cent  of  the  teachers  have  no  four-year  degrees,  the  propor- 
tion varying  from  fifteen  per  cent  at  Kirksville1  to  forty  per  cent  at  Springfield  and 
Maryville.  Of  the  teachers  who  lack  degrees,  one-fourth  give  no  record  of  work  be- 
yond the  high  school,  somewhat  more  claim  three  or  more  years  of  such  work,  while 
nearly  half  claim  two  years  or  less.  The  departmental  assignment  of  the  teachers  hav- 
ing no  degree  is  of  interest.  More  than  half — thirty-two  out  of  fifty-eight — were 
teachers  of  art,  music,  physical  education,  or  commercial  subjects.  The  lack  of  a  de- 
gree in  such  cases  is  easily  explained,  altho  perhaps  its  justification  is  not  so  simple. 
Those  who  instruct  students  of  college  grade  should  themselves  have  had  college 
training.  But  seven  teachers  without  degrees  were  teaching  academic  subjects,  chiefly 
language;  eleven2  were  engaged  in  supervision  of  practice  teaching,  and  eight  in  giv- 
ing courses  in  education. 

This  reflects  a  characteristic  weakness  of  the  normal  schools.  One  would  expect  these 
schools  to  require,  even  for  their  teachers  of  arithmetic  and  grammar,  at  least  as  well- 
trained  teachers  as  are  demanded  by  good  high  schools.  This  indeed  has  been  the 
tendency.  But  while  the  academic  departments  have  been  steadily  strengthened  bv 
better  formal  preparation,  the  professional  and  supervisory  departments  have  been 
conducted  more  largely  on  the  basis  of  experience  unsupported  by  theoretical  train- 
ing. Nor  is  it  a  question  of  elderly  teachers  inherited  from  an  old  regime;,  the  me- 
dian age  of  these  deficient  teachers  is  thirty-three.  It  is  certainly  unfortunate  that 
eleven  out  of  the  fifteen  teachers  in  all  the  schools  who  were  responsible  for  the  criti- 
cal task  of  directing  the  candidate^  first  practical  efforts  in  teaching,  and  that  eight 
of  the  thirty-three  teachers  giving  professional  courses  possessed  an  academic  train- 
ing inferior  to  that  of  some  of  their  students.  These  are  the  departments  of  all  others 
where  it  would  seem  fitting  for  a  normal  school  to  lay  stress  upon  something  more 
than  an  empirical  attitude  toward  "  method."  Supervisors  of  practice  teaching  should 
be  among  the  best  trained  people  on  the  staff,  both  in  theory  and  in  practice,  if  a 
normal  school  is  to  justify  reasonable  expectations,  and  instructors  in  professional 
courses  should  manifestly  outrank  all  others  in  equipment  and  ability.  Students 
seriously  expecting  to  teach  feel  instinctively  that  practice  courses  constitute  their 
most  indispensable  work;  and  the  schools  will  not  measure  up  to  their  responsibility 
until  they  place  the  most  competent  and  best  paid  instructors  in  this  department. 

As  a  justification  for  partly  schooled  instructors  it  is  weakly  urged  that  mere  de- 
grees or  years  of  attendance  at  institutions  are  no-  proof  of  ability  to  train  teachers, 
and  individual  cases  have  been  effectively  cited  to  support  this  contention.  Such  ar- 
gument is  no  refutation  of  the  fact  that  a  thorough  education  is  an  indispensable  basis 

1  It  should  be  explained,  however,  that  Kirksville  prpvides  degrees  of  its  own  for  many  of  its  degreeless  teachers 
while  they  are  drawing  full  salary  as  instructors.  In  the  faculty  of  1915  six,  or  thirteen  per  cent,  had  received  such 
degrees  without  resident  work.  Omitting  these,  twenty-eight  per  cent  lack  degrees —about  the  same  proportion  as 
at  Warrensburg  and  Cape  Girardeau. 

2  Fourteen,  if  the  Kirksville  degrees  above  referred  to  be  omitted. 


TEACHERS  101 

for  success  in  any  grade  of  professional  instruction,  and  that  education  can  be  best 
ensured  at  good  institutions.  Further,  the  requirement  of  a  degree  is  some  safeguard 
against  a  lackadaisical  habit  of  many  teachers  who  are  always  professing  to  study  > 
but  who  never  carry  their  work  to  a  successful  conclusion.  That  these  facts  have  been 
openly  or  tacitly  recognized  at  the  institutions  themselves  is  shown  by  the  steadily 
increasing  emphasis  upon  a  satisfactory  institutional  qualification  for  appointment. 

DEGREES  CLASSIFIED 

The  teachers  who  have  degrees  representing  four  or  more  years  of  study  beyond 
the  high  school  have  been  classified1  to  show  not  only  the  number  of  those  holding  the 
various  degrees,  but  also,  in  a  rough  way,  the  quality  of  the  degrees  held.  For  this  pur- 
pose use  has  been  made  of  the  classification  of  institutions  formulated  by  Dr.  K.  C. 
Babcock  for  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  in  1911.2  Whatever  the  merits 
or  defects  of  this  classification,  it  at  least  treats  all  schools  measured  by  it  alike,  and 
the  results  secured  by  applying  it,  as  has  been  done  here,  to  the  state  university  and  to 
a  good  St.  Louis  high  school,  are  of  interest.  Seventy-one  per  cent  of  all  normal  school 
teachers  hold  four-year  bachelor's  degrees,  as  compared  with  ninety-two  per  cent 
holding  such  degrees  in  the  university  and  eighty-two  per  cent  in  the  Soldan  High 
School.  Only  thirty-nine  per  cent  of  the  normal  school  teachers  hold  their  bachelor's 
degrees  from  first  class  institutions  as  compared  with  seventy-four  per  cent  at  the 
university  and  sixty-five  per  cent  at  the  Soldan  High  School. 

The  situation  in  the  individual  schools  may  be  traced  at  will;  Cape  Girardeau  heads 
the  list  with  forty-eight  per  cent  of  its  staff  equipped  with  first  class  bachelor's  de- 
grees. If  only  the  various  kinds  of  degrees  be  considered,  regardless  of  duplication, 
Maryville  leads  with  eighty-three  per  cent  of  all  degrees  in  classes  one  and  two.  Mary- 
ville  also  has  the  highest  percentage  of  advanced  degrees,  all  of  them  but  one  from 
first  class  institutions;  yet  in  the  proportion  of  the  faculty  having  any  degree  it  is 
low.  Kirksville  is  lowest  by  this  analysis,  having  sixty-nine  per  cent  of  all  of  its  de- 
grees in  the  first  two  classes;  its  advanced  degrees  are  all  from  high  grade  schools. 
In  the  proportion  of  first  class  degrees  of  all  kinds  the  figures  run  from  forty- two  per 
cent  at  Springfield  to  seventy-five  per  cent  at  Cape  Girardeau — five  per  cent  below 
the  Soldan  High  School  at  St  Louis! 

It  may  be  urged  that  the  quality  of  an  institution  is  no  certain  guarantee  of  the 
quality  of  the  individual  who  goes  thru  it,  and  in  the  case  of  any  single  individual  this 
will  be  freely  admitted.  It  is  not  true,  nevertheless,  that,  other  things  being  equal,  fifty 
graduates  of  inferior  institutions  will  represent  a  training  that  approaches  that  of  fifty 

1  See  page  420. 

*  This  is  substantially  the  classification  later  adopted  by  the  Association  of  American  Universities.  Class  I  includes 
institutions  of  such  grade  that  their  graduates  would  generally  suffer  no  loss  of  time  by  transfer  to  admittedly 
standard  institutions  (Columbia,  Harvard,  Yale,  etc.);  Class  II  includes  schools  .whose  average  graduates  would 
transfer  to  such  institutions  with  the  loss  of  part  of  a  year;  Class  III  indicates  a  loss  of  one  full  year,  and  Class  IV 
of  practically  two  years.  Class  V  comprises  all  other  schools  and  includes  the  four-year  courses  of  the  Missouri 
normal  schools. 


102  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

graduates  of  first  class  colleges.  The  low  grade  school,  thru  its  inferior  selection  of  ma- 
terial, its  weaker  faculty  and  equipment,  and  its  looser  tension  of  intellectual  perform- 
ance, exercises  an  influence  that  only  the  exceptional  student  will  overcome.  The  gradu- 
ates of  such  schools  may  perform  a  devoted  and  worthy  work,  but  when  the  institutions 
so  served  place  themselves  in  competition  with  other  institutions,  this  point  assumes 
importance.  There  can  be  but  one  conclusion  respecting  the  normal  schools  in  this 
regard:  they  are  weak. 

GEOGRAPHY  OF  TRAINING 

Not  only  the  rating  but  the  location  of  the  institutions  that  serve  as  a  given 
school's  intellectual  progenitors  is  significant.  There  is  a  marked  difference  between 
the  institution  where,  by  inheritance,  the  limited  ideas  and  attitudes  of  that  partic- 
ular institution  or  locality  prevail,  and  the  school  that  invites  and  provides  for  a 
generous  renewal  and  invigoration  of  its  mental  life  by  accessions  from  abroad.  Cer- 
tain inferences  on  this  point  may  be  drawn  from  the  facts  before  us.  Including  the 
four-year  degrees  from  normal  schools,  fifty-five  per  cent  of  the  bachelor's  degrees 
held  by  normal  school  teachers  were  from  Missouri  schools,  as  were  also  over  two- 
fifths  of  the  advanced  degrees.  The  university  issued  one-fourth  of  the  first  and  nearly 
one-third  of  the  second.1  The  women  teachers  are  far  behind  the  men  in  amount  of 
graduate  work  done,  and  do  a  much  larger  share  of  it  in  Missouri.  The  individual 
schools  vary  greatly.  Maryville  has  but  one  Missouri  normal  school  degree,  while 
nearly  a  third  of  the  Kirksville  bachelor's  degrees  are  such.  Most  of  the  graduate 
degrees  held  at  Maryville,  also,  were  taken  outside  the  state,  while  at  Springfield 
they  are  largely  from  Missouri.  It  is  perhaps  noteworthy  that  at  Kirksville  and  Cape 
Girardeau,  the  two  schools  at  which  competition  with  the  university  has  been  most 
in  evidence,  much  of  the  graduate  work  of  the  instructors  has  been  done  at  the  uni- 
versity; at  Kirksville  this  is  true  to  the  extent  of  sixty-four  per  cent. 

The  institutions  outside  of  Missouri  most  frequented  by  normal  school  teachers  for 
various  degrees  were  University  of  Chicago,  Columbia  University,  Brown  University, 
and  the  universities  of  Michigan,  Indiana,  Kansas,  and  Wisconsin.2 

COMBINATIONS  OF  TRAINING 

Prom  a  purely  institutional  point  of  view  the  variety  of  mental  background  to  be 
found  in  the  faculty  of  a  normal  school  appears  in  the  combinations  of  training.  A 
table3  of  these  data  unravels  certain  strands  of  influence  in  a  suggestive  manner.  The 
mode — one-third — among  women  teachers  includes  normal  school  with  college  train- 
ing; while  the  mode  among  men  teachers — thirty  per  cent — shows  college  and  grad- 
uate work  only.  As  the  men  are  more  frequently  heads  of  departments,  directors  of 
training,  and  so  forth,  this  largest  single  combination  in  their  training  is  noteworthy, 

1  Half  of  the  bachelor's  degrees  from  Missouri  schools  came  from  the  university  and  nearly  one-fourth  from  the 
normal  schools. 

2  See  page  422.          *  See  page  422, 


TEACHERS  103 

and  indicates  how  closely  the  university  and  the  normal  schools  have  interacted.  The 
table  shows  a  further  fact:  whereas  the  university  has  developed  a  fairly  homogeneous 
form  of  training  for  its  teachers,  the  normal  school  corps  is  drawn  from  a  wide  series 
of  combinations;  seventy-four  per  cent  of  the  university  teachers  have  one  sequence 
of  educational  experience,  namely,  high  school,  college,  and  graduate  work,  while  the 
largest  group  of  normal  school  instructors  having  the  same  kind  of  training  contains 
but  twenty-three  per  cent  of  the  whole  number.  This  same  wide  variation  appears  also 
in  the  experience  of  the  two  sets  of  teachers. 

Altho  all  members  of  a  normal  school  staff,  both  those  native  to  the  state  and  new- 
comers from  without,  may  be  expected  to  acquaint  themselves  with  the  school  con- 
ditions into  which  their  students  are  going  as  teachers,  it  is  doubtless  commendable 
that  a  considerable  proportion  should  have  that  knowledge  bred  in  the  bone  thru  per- 
sonal experience.  For  the  good  of  the  school,  however,  natives  of  the  state  who  have 
passed  thru  its  elementary  and  secondary  system  should  include  in  their  college  or 
university  training  a  considerable  period  of  work  amid  other  surroundings.  For  this  a 
summer  session  elsewhere  is  not  enough.  Where  such  migration  does  not  occur  there 
is  certain  danger.  Forty  per  cent  of  the  normal  school  teachers  had  both  their  second- 
ary and  higher  work  in  Missouri,  while  thirty-two  per  cent  were  native  born  and  had 
not  left  the  state  previous  to  receiving  their  first  degree.  This  proportion  does  not 
appear  excessive. 

GRADUATE  DEGREES 

Only  about  one-fourth  of  the  teachers  in  Missouri  normal  schools  had  ever  done 
recognized  study  beyond  a  college  course,  altho  nearly  all  of  them  were  giving  collegi- 
ate instruction.  Of  fifty-two  master's  degrees,  forty- two  came  from  first  class  institu- 
tions; twenty-two  were  takeji  in  Missouri,  sixteen  of  them  at  the  university.  Of  the 
degrees  usually  considered  as  necessary  to  qualify  a  teacher  to  give  collegiate  instruc- 
tion, there  are  seven  among  the  one  hundred  ninety-nine  teachers  and  officers,  six 
of  them  taken  from  first  class  institutions,  all  outside  of  the  state. 

RETARDATION  IN  TRAINING- 

The  retardation  of  normal  school  teachers  in  securing  their  education  deserves  spe- 
cial attention.  The  records  of  the  group  show  that  sixty-eight,  or  just  under  half,  of 
all  the  four-year  bachelor's  degrees  with  date  given  were  taken  after  the  age  of  twenty- 
five.  Allowing  thus  three  years  beyond  the  normal  age  of  twenty- two  as  a  reasonable 
margin,  forty-seven  per  cent  of  the  women  and  fifty- six  per  cent  of  the  men  were 
belated.  Eleven  of  the  twenty-one  teachers  who  have  only  the  two-year  Ped.B.  degree 
were  belated  in  getting  it.  The  interpretation  of  this  situation  may  be  aided  by  com- 
paring similar  figures  at  the  university,  where  eighty-four  per  cent  of  all  bachelor's 
degrees  were  taken  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  or  under.  At  the  normal  schools  thirty- 
six  per  cent  of  these  degrees  were  taken  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine  or  later,  whereas 


104  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

at  the  university  only  about  six  per  cent  were  taken  so  late.1  When  the  ages  at  which 
the  degrees  were  taken  are  examined  in  connection  with  the  class  of  institution  that 
granted  them,  the  following  facts  appear:  Altho  earning  nearly  half  of  the  total  num- 
ber of  bachelor's  degrees  on  time,  the  normal  school  teachers  have  earned  fifty-eight 
per  cent  of  their  low  grade  degrees  and  but  thirty-nine  per  cent  of  their  first  class 
degrees  at  the  age  of  twenty -five  or  before.  That  is,  the  poorer  degrees  come  easily 
and  at  an  early  age,  while  the  standard  degrees  corne  later.2  Among  the  teachers  at 
the  university,  altho  eighty-nine  per  cent  of  the  twenty-eight3  low  grade  degrees 
were  earned  on  time,  eighty-three  per  cent  of  the  one  hundred  ten  first  class  degrees 
were  likewise  obtained  at  the  age  of  twenty -five  or  earlier. 

It  will,  of  course,  be  suggested  that,  in  a  normal  school  instructor  who  has  spent  a 
longer  or  shorter  interval  before  or  between  his  college  years  in  teaching,  belatedness 
is  a  virtue,  whatever  may  be  the  case  with  college  teachers.  The  theory  is  that  the 
maturer  student  who  has  taught  derives  more  benefit  from  Ms  college  work,  particu- 
larly as  a  prospective  teacher ;  his  trial  efforts  have  revealed  the  difficulties  of  teach- 
ing, have  focused  his  attention  and  appreciation,  and  have  sharpened  his  motive.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  of  this — to  an  extent.  There  is  danger,  however,  lest  maturity  of  grasp 
of  mere  college  work  be  reckoned  too  much  to  the  advantage  of  the  individual,  while 
the  loss  of  momentum  and  point  of  view  favorable  to  advanced  study  and  gained  by 
fairly  early  education  is  ignored.  It  seems  hardly  open  to  question  that  beyond  a  cer- 
tain point  delay  serves  simply  as  a  brake;  that  possessing  a  college  education  at  the  age 
of  twenty-four,  a  student  normally  makes  more  intelligent  use  of  the  years  to  thirty, 
and  arrives  there  ahead  of  the  belated  college  student  graduating  at  that  age.  Much 
preliminary  and  unsupervised  experience  will  prove  to  be  a  waste  of  time  if  not  a  posi- 
tive injury.  Such  would  undoubtedly  be  the  attitude  of  medical  men  toward  practical 
medical  experience  before  theoretical  medical  training.  There  is  a  difference  here  only 
in  degree.  Professional  training  in  education  is  rapidly  achieving  the  power  to  make 
the  tyro  in  teaching  appear  quite  as  much  of  a  bungler  as  is  the  novice  in  medicine. 
In  both  professions  a  littl.e  unskilled  experience  is  probably  of  use  to  the  practitioner 
in  raising  and  defining  problems  for  future  solution ;  but  the  time  speedily  comes  when 
delay  in  obtaining  further  education  is  a  loss.  Such  delay  is  prohibited  in  medicine 
for  the  sake  of  the  patients  and  should  be  prevented  in  education  for  the  same  reason. 

RETARDATION  AND  GRADUATE  WORK 

We  are  dealing  here  with  prospective  normal  school  instructors,  all  of  whom  must 
be  expected  to  have  done  graduate  work.  The  Missouri  conference  agreement  now 

1  The  schools  themselves  vary  considerably  in  this  particular.  Cape  Girardeau  leads  with  62  per  cent  of  her  teachers* 
bachelor's  degrees  taken  on  time;  the  other  schools  take  the  following  order:  Springrfield,  52  per  cent;  Warrens- 
bur??,  48  per  cent ;  Kirksville,  38  per  cent;  and  Maryville,  36  per  cent. 

2  Here,  likewise,  the  schools  show  a  marked  difference,  but  are  consistent  in  their  relative  tendency  in.  every  case 
except  Maryville:  teachers  at  Cape  Girardeau  earned  88  per  cent  low  grade,  but  only  55  per  cent  first  class  degrees 
on  time;  at  Warrensburgr,  67  per  cent  and  85  per  cent;  at  Springfield,  67  per  cent  and  86  per  cent;  at  Kirksville,  50 
per  cent  and  26  per  cent;  and  at  Maryville,  the  one  exception  in  sequence,  29  per  cent  and  43  per  cent. 

8  Low  class  degrees  were  counted  only  when  no  first  class  bachelor's  degree  was  held. 


TEACHERS  105 

calls  for  the  master's  degree  as  the  standard  evidence  of  qualification  to  teach  in  a 
normal  school,  but  that  can  be  considered  only  as  transitional;  there  is  no  reason 
why  the  preparation  implied  in  the  doctor's  degree  should  not  be  required  of  normal 
school  teachers  as  well  as  of  college  teachers,  if  they  propose  to  do  coordinate  work, 
and  if  appropriate  forms  of  such  professional  preparation  are  now  available,  as  is 
the  case.  It  is  of  interest,  therefore,  to  discover  what  relation,  if  any,  exists  between 
belated  graduation  and  post-graduate  work.  It  may  first  be  noted  that  the  master's 
degrees  taken  by  teachers  in  the  normal  schools  are  taken  late:  slightly  more  than 
half  of  those  who  hold  such  degrees  and  gave  record  of  their  ages  took  their  de- 
grees at  the  age  of  twenty-nine  or  later,  while  at  the  university  but  nineteen  per 
cent  had  reached  that  age.  If  now  we  examine  the  ages  at  which  those  who  went  on 
for  graduate  work  took  their  bachelor's  degrees,  we  find  that  sixty -two  per  cent  were 
twenty-five  years  of  age  or  under,  while  of  the  group  that  did  not  go  on,  only  thirty- 
nine  per  cent  took  their  bachelor's  degrees  on  time.  This  seems  significant.  It  would 
fairly  describe  the  tendency  to  say  that  in  general  the  student  who  of  necessity  post- 
pones his  college  course  finds  it  exhausting,  completes  it  out  of  breath,  and  has  less 
ambition  and  energy  for  the  advanced  study  which  is  to  be  his  all-important  profes- 
sional equipment. 

Judging  from  the  available  data,  therefore,  as  well  as  from  the  analogy  of  other 
professions,  the  effectively  trained  teacher  would  be  the  naturally  gifted  man  or  woman 
who  has  secured  his  formal  training  early  in  a  high  grade  institution  and  who,  after 
a  limited  amount  of  successful  experience  under  competent  direction,  has  taken  two 
or  three  years  of  graduate  work.  Such  a  man  or  woman  is  ready  at  the  age  of  twenty  - 
seven  or  twenty-eight,  with  a  sound  and  comprehensive  intellectual  equipment,  to 
begin  a  career  as  teacher,  administrator,  or  expert  in  educational  research.  It  is  to 
this  type  of  teacher,  further  tested  by  experience  and  achievement,  that  we  must  look 
to  give  instruction  in  the  training  institutions  of  this  country. 

EXPERIENCE 

After  formal  training,  the  most  important  element  in  fitness  to  train  teachers  is 
likely  to  be  the  duration  and  character  of  preliminary  experience.  It  is  reasonable 
to  assume  that  each  type  of  professional  training  has  a  type  of  experience  best  suited 
to  ensure  its  highest  efficiency.  In  the  preparation  of  teachers  this  would  appear 
obvious  enough:  a  person  can  scarcely  hope  to  qualify  as  a  guide  for  teachers  of 
children  in  public  schools  without  first-hand  and  continuous  experience  with  the  con- 
ditions and  problems  which  he  is  fitting  his  students  to  face.  As  a  counsel  of  perfec- 
tion such  a  principle  would  appear  to  hold  good  throughout  a  training-school  staff; 
in  actual  practice  there  are  some  positions,  those  for  example  in  certain  special  sub- 
jects or  even  in  highly  specialized  forms  of  subject-matter,  where  such  experience  may 
be  dispensed  with.  It  is  unquestionably  true,  however,  that  any  institution  bent  on 
closing  the  gap  between  its  "professional"  and  "academic"  work,  and  desirous  of  in- 


106  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

fusing  a  single  fixed  and  all-pervading  purpose  into  its  operations,  will  look  first  of 
all  to  its  faculty.  The  thing  cannot  be  done  unless  every  teacher  has  himself  had 
sufficient  teaching  experience  of  the  particular  kind  in  question  to  determine  the  pat- 
tern of  every  course  he  gives.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  teaching  in  general,  and  teach- 
ing in  particular  is  highly  specific.  We  should  expect  two  hundred  well -trained  normal 
school  teachers  to  exhibit  a  large  amount  of  preparatory  experience, 

The  Missouri  teachers  have  had  experience;  whether  it  is  of  the  appropriate  kind 
may  not  be  so  clear.  In  total  years  of  teaching  experience,1  the  normal  school  teachers 
and  the  teachers  in  the  private  colleges  rank  together;  the  median  is  twelve.  The  me- 
dian at  the  state  university  is  nine,  and  at  the  junior  colleges,  six. 

KIND  OF  EXPERIENCE 

Altho  their  total  experience  runs  very  high,  the  normal  school  teachers  have  a  me- 
dian tenure  in  their  present  institutions  of  but  four  years  as  compared  with  five  at  the 
state  university  and  between  six  and  seven  at  Washington  University.  Their  experi- 
ence has  been  of  a  somewhat  different  sort,  as  further  analysis  shows.  Altho  two-fifths 
have  had  less  than  five  years  experience  in  any  higher  institution,  nine-tenths  of  them 
have  had  experience  in  elementary  or  secondary  teaching-  The  meaning  of  this  fact 
stands  out  clearly  when  comparison  is  made  with  the  other  great  teacher-training  body 
In  the  state— the  university,  where  fifty-six  per  cent  of  all  who  instinct  prospective 
teachers  of  boys  and  girls  have  had  no  experience  in  teaching  outside  of  college  or  uni- 
versity. It  becomes  still  more  significant  when  compared  with  the  English  training 
colleges  for  teachers,  where  the  instructors  have  had  practically  no  experience  in  the 
schools  for  which  they  are  preparing  teachers,  and  where,  as  a  result,  the  training 
colleges  are  completely  out  of  touch  with  the  lower  schools.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  principle  of  selection  on  the  basis  of  experience  which  our  American  normal 
schools  have  applied  in  a  general  way  to  the  choice  of  their  teachers  is  a  considerable 
virtue  that  should  be  conserved  as  the  training  of  these  teachers  is  strengthened  in  its 
theoretical  aspects.  Experience  should  be  more  definitely  required  and  more  closely 
scrutinized  as  to  its  quality.  Slightly  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  teachers  in  Mis- 
souri normal  schools  lack  elementary  school  experience;  yet  they  are  training  chiefly 
elementary  school  teachers.  One-fourth  have  been  superintendents — a  position  that 
has  usually  included  secondary  and  occasionally  elementary  instruction.  Sixty- three 
per  cent  have  taught  in  high  school,  while  twenty-one  per  cent  have  had  some  expe- 
rience in  college  or  university  instruction.  Over  one-half  have  taught  in  rural  schools, 
altho  in  this  qualification,  as  in  others,  there  appears  a  sharp  difference  in  favor  of 
the  men. 

Such  an  array  of  preparatory  field  service  would  seem  greatly  to  enrich  the  in- 
struction until  we  discover  that  there  is  no  well-ordered  relation  between  the  expe- 

1  See  pa#e  422. 


TEACHEKS  107 

rience  and  the  present  occupation :  that  former  high  school  teachers  of  English  and 
history  are  now  showing  students  how  to  teach  arithmetic  and  geography  to  sixth 
grade  children;  that  courses  in  school  administration  are  given  by  teachers  who  have 
had  no  adequate  experience  even  in  supervision ;  and  that  former  principals  and  su- 
perintendents are  now  teaching  Latin  and  sociology.  In  other  words,  the  particular 
kind  of  experience,  instead  of  furnishing  an  all-important  background  for  the  present 
purpose  of  instruction,  is  largely  unrelated;  teachers  have  in  very  many  cases  received 
their  present  appointments  as  promotion  out  of  educational  jobs  of  different  sorts  and 
not  because  of  distinguished  excellence  in  the  kind  of  teaching  for  which  they  are 
now  asked  to  prepare  students.  It  is  plain  that  the  close  contact  between  the  normal 
school  and  the  public  school,  fortunate  as  it  is,  is  rather  the  chance  of  evolution  than 
the  conscious  recognition  of  a  sound  principle.  To  secure  the  latter  it  should  be  re- 
quired that  in  addition  to  a  good  general  education  and  specific  training  in  his  field, 
every  normal  school  instructor  should  have  had  likewise  a  reasonable  amount  of  spe- 
cific experience  in  doing  the  thing  for  which  he  undertakes  to  train  others.1  This 
would  maintain  a  fine  tradition  in  its  most  effective  form. 

TEACHING  ASSIGNMENT 

The  natural  correlative  of  training  and  experience  is  to  be  found  in  the  teacher's 
present  occupation  and  the  conditions  attending  its  pursuit.  The  latter  include  many 
phases  of  administration  which  will  be  dealt  with  in  connection  with  that  topic ; 
the  aspects  having  particular  significance  here  are  those  involving  the  scope  and 
weight  of  the  assignment.  An  examination  of  the  teaching  programs  of  1915-16  shows 
that  eighteen  per  cent  of  all  teachers  in  Missouri  normal  schools  teach  more  than 
one  subject.  Forty-two  instances  occur  among  the  teachers  of  the  regular  session  and 
fourteen  among  those  teaching  only  in  the  summer.  They  are  about  evenly  distributed 
among  the  schools,  and  in  all  but  ten  instances  involve  so-called  "college"  work.  Cer- 
tain subjects,  such  as  education  and  psychology,  especially  educational  psychology, 
physics  and  general  science,  history  and  economics,  have  a  natural  affinity,  and,  even 
as  college  instruction,  might  conceivably  be  well  handled  by  the  same  teachers.  Other 
combinations  are  allowable  enough  in  a  high  school,  but  are  suspicious  when  offered 
for  college  credit.  Spanish  is  combined  with  German,  with  history,  and  with  photog- 
raphy ;  German  is  offered  further  by  a  teacher  of  Latin  and  a  teacher  of  French.  Physics 
teachers  teach  also  mathematics  and  chemistry;  history  teachers  teach  Latin,  mathe- 
matics, and  geography.  Teachers  of  education  teach  geography  and  chemistry,  and  a 
teacher  of  English  teaches  sociology.  Nine  teachers  in  the  regular  session  have  a  com- 
bination of  three  subjects.  As  one  might  surmise,  three  of  these  teach  education;  one 

i  An  admirable  instance  of  the  successful  enforcement  of  a  policy  of  selecting  experience  for  a  present  purpose 
is  shown  in  the  staff  of  the  St.  Louis  high  schools.  It  is  desired  to  have  teachers  with  experience  m  elementary  in- 
struction, in  order  to  ensure  a  true  perspective  in  high  school  work.  In  1915  over  sixty  per  cent  of  the  teachers  m 
the  Soldan  High  School  were  thus  equipped,  the  remainder,  with  occasional  exceptions,  having*  only  hiffh  school 
experience.  If  an  incidental  advantage  can  fee  secured  to  this  extent  in  a  higrh  school,  a  normal  school  should  hold 
out  stubbornly  for  a  requisite  that  is  essential. 


108  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

combines  it  with  English  and  geography,  and  two  with  history  and  mathematics. 
Chemistry  combines  once  with  physics  and  mathematics,  once  with  bacteriology  and 
general  science,  and  once  with  physics  and  physiology.  One  teacher  gives  instruction 
in  French,  German,  and  Spanish.  To  call  such  work  " college"  work  is  probably  un- 
justifiable in  most  cases.  It  is  impossible  to  expect  a  collegiate  grade  of  work  from 
an  individual  who  must  teach  five  classes  per  day  in  two  or  more  distinct  fields,  and 
teachers  who  are  properly  trained  will  refuse  to  do  it.  Injustice  to  the  normal  schools 
it  must  be  said  that  such  cases  represent  a  past  condition  that  is  fast  being  outgrown, 
as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  eighty -two  per  cent  of  all  their  instructors  are  now  work- 
ing in  single  departments.  The  chief  mistake  has  been  in  the  assertion  of  claims  for 
collegiate  recognition  during  recent  years  when  conditions  were  admittedly  much 
worse  than  they  are  to-day. 

LENGTH  OF  PROG  HAM 

Of  even  greater  absolute  importance  than  the  diversity  of  assignment  in  determin- 
ing the  quality  of  work  is  the  teacher's  time  schedule.  The  most  striking  feature  of 
the  teachers'  quarterly  programs  in  1915-16  is  the  wide  variation  among  the  schools,1 
In  summer  nearly  three-fifths  of  the  teachers  at  Cape  Girardeau  gave  from  twelve  to 
nineteen  periods  of  instruction  per  week,  while  at  Springfield  only  three  per  cent  gave 
so  little.  Sixty -seven  per  cent  at  Springfield  had  twenty-five  or  more  periods  as  com- 
pared with  four  per  cent  at  Cape  Girardeau,  and  six  individuals  at  Springfield  had 
thirty  periods  or  more.  How  can  work  done  under  such  dissimilar  conditions  be  com- 
pared? Similarly  at  Warrensburg  over  half  of  the  programs  in  the  regular  session 
called  for  from  twenty-five  to  thirty-five  periods  weekly,  while  Kirks ville  asked  but  one 
teacher  to  exceed  twenty -four  periods  and  but  three  to  exceed  twenty.  Yet  no  similar 
variation  in  salary  occurred;  in  fact,  the  teachers  at  Cape  Girardeau,  while  having 
much  shorter  programs,  received  on  the  average  higher  salaries  than  the  teachers  at 
Springfield.  There  could  be  no  more  forcible  argument  for  the  need  of  some  regulat- 
ing authority  to  establish  for  all  the  schools  a  common  schedule  according  to  some 
well-considered  standard* 

A  second  fact  that  stands  out  is  the  marked  increase  of  load  during  the  summer  ses- 
sion. Twice  as  great  a  proportion  of  teachers  were  carrying  from  twenty-five  to  thirty- 
five  periods  in  the  summer  term  as  did  so  during  the  regular  session;  the  percentage 
of  all  summer  term  teachers  carrying  such  programs  was  forty-two.  If  summer  work 
involved  simply  a  high  tho  possible  maximum  based  on  a  reasonable  and  compensat- 
ing minimum  for  the  regular  session,  the  case  would  be  different.  As  it  is,  every  such 
program  is  super-maximum.  No  normal  school  instructor  professing  to  do  collegiate 
work  should  be  allowed  to  teach  twenty-five  class-periods  per  week  at  any  time:  the 
fact  itself  brands  the  quality  of  the  work  as  necessarily  inferior.  When  the  inrush  of 
summer  students  is  permitted  to  create  such  schedules,  there  can  be  but  one  result: 

1  See  page  425. 


TEACHERS  109 

the  work  degenerates  into  a  genial  and  superficial  formalism  of  little  value;  the  school 
gyrates  thru  the  summer  on  the  momentum  of  the  good  work  done  in  the  regular 
session,  and  is  obliged  to  recover  its  balance  in  the  fall.  The  extraordinary  industry 
of  the  summer  attendants  helps  to  overcome  the  evil,  but  the  effect  on  the  faculty 
is  exhausting.  This  judgment  is  fully  corroborated  by  impressions  received  during 
visits  at  the  schools,  especially  at  Springfield.  The  teachers  dread  the  summer  terra 
and  discredit  the  work  done  under  such  conditions.  When  the  same  situation  prevails 
throughout  the  year,  comment  is  of  course  needless. 

WHAT  is  A  REASONABLE  LOAD? 

There  is  certainly  no  single  or  arbitrary  rule  by  which  a  reasonable  standard  of 
amount  of  work  for  normal  school  instructors  may  be  determined.  It  would  seem  to 
be  closely  involved  with  two  main  factors :  the  capacity  of  the  instructors  and  the 
quality  of  work  desired.  No  one  would  propose  to  turn  a  high  school  staff  into  a  college 
faculty  by  reducing  the  weekly  load  from  twenty -five  periods  to  twelve.  The  average 
high  school  teacher  would  scarcely  know  what  to  do  with  the  time;  he  has  a  general- 
ized training  with  or  without  special  emphasis  in  one  or  two  fields;  he  has  a  distinctly 
routine  attitude  toward  instruction,  and  to  him  the  physical  burden  of  twenty-five 
periods  is  not  excessive.  In  some  high  schools,  where  specialized  graduate  work  is  now 
required  of  teachers,  instruction  tends  to  assume  a  fresher,  more  intense,  and  vital 
form;  here,  therefore,  appears  also  the  tendency  to  shorten  hours  to  fit  the  better 
type  of  teacher,  not  because  he  can  compel  it,  but  because  he  has  the  ability  and  train- 
ing to  make  his  four  hours  a  day  worth  another's  five.  Similarly  the  good  college  in- 
structor is  expected,  thru  complete  familiarity  with  his  subject,  to  give  his  material 
an  original  and  vigorous  treatment.  This  he  cannot  usually  do  save  in  a  single  field 
or  portion  thereof,  and  he  must  live  with  his  sources  in  their  best  forms  to  the  point 
of  saturation.  To  such  an  instructor  more  than  three  periods  of  instruction  per  day  is 
a  drain  which  his  study  time  fails  properly  to  replenish.  He  must  keep  abreast  of  the 
development  of  his  subject,  must  continually  revise  his  courses,  and  must  himself  do 
constructive  study.  For  the  sake  of  his  product  it  is  usually  well  worth  while  to  give 
him  time  for  all  of  this. 

Assuming  a  faculty  trained  to  high  grade  work,  the  question  of  schedule  becomes 
a  question  of  the  quality  of  work  desired.  There  is  an  impression  that  a  heavy  schedule 
is  merely  a  burden  to  the  teacher;  that  he  continues  somehow  to  produce  in  larger 
amount  the  best  of  which  he  is  capable.  This  is  of  course  a  mistake.  A  school  demand- 
ing that  a  teacher  give  twenty-five  periods  of  collegiate  instruction  per  week  simply 
gets  that  teacher's  energy  and  effort  spread  out  thinly  over  twenty-five  periods  in- 
stead of  concentrated  into  fifteen,  and  each  class  suffers  accordingly.  It  is  difficult  to 
make  the  average  school  board  or  layman  understand  this;  to  them  an  instructor 
teaching  thirty  periods  is  obviously  twice  as  valuable  as  the  one  teaching  half  that 
time.  To  any  one  who  knows  what  college  work  is,  however,  it  is  apparent  that  the 


110  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

institution  that  professes  to  do  college  work  on  such  a  basis  is  seriously  deceiving 
both  itself  and  others. 

In  view  of  these  two  considerations,  the  situation  in  Missouri  normal  schools  sug- 
gests certain  comments.  When  studied  for  the  purpose  of  evaluating  claims  to  colle- 
giate recognition,  the  schools  would  appear  to  have  failed  to  realize  the  terms  on  which 
such  recognition  could  justly  be  based.  The  levels  of  work  to  which  each  instructor 
is  assigned  are  so  varied  that  nearly  all  cases  of  excessive  program  involve  some  col- 
lege work  and  several  are  exclusively  collegiate.1  The  length  of  period  in  the  normal 
schools  is  the  same  approximately  as  at  the  university.2  There  is  no  apparent  reason 
why  the  same  standards  should  not  be  applied.  As  evidence  that  they  can  be  success- 
fully applied,  the  example  of  Harris  Teachers  College  at  St.  Louis  may  be  cited.  Here, 
in  an  institution  offering  two  years  only  of  collegiate  work,  no  teacher's  schedule  calls 
for  more  than  fifteen  hours,  and  the  average  is  considerably  lower. 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  a  standard  college  schedule  should  not  be  applied 
abruptly  to  the  normal  schools,  except  for  such  teachers  as  are  already  trained  college 
workers.  There  is  on  the  faculty  of  each  school  a  considerable  number  of  teachers  of 
the  high  school  type;  men  and  women  lacking  special  training  and  bred  by  long  use 
to  the  old  style  normal  school  program.3  Some  of  these  are  good  teachers  who  might 
yet  acquire  adequate  preparation,  or  who  would  at  least  be  acceptable  instructors 
in  secondary  subjects.  On  the  other  hand,  in  so  far  as  the  schools  attempt  college 
work,  the  present  little  group  of  well-prepared  teachers  should  at  once  be  enlarged 
and  placed  on  a  strictly  collegiate  basis  in  respect  to  hours  and  subjects.  A  training 
school  for  teachers,  of  all  institutions,  ought  to  make  its  own  standai'ds  in  these 
respects  unimpeachable.4 

GOOD  TEACHING  AS  EXACTING  AS  RESEARCH 

There  is  a  feeling  on  the  part  of  some  that  the  function  of  a  training-school  staff 
should  not  involve  research,  bub  should  consist  exclusively  in  inculcating  known 
truth,  and  that  consequently  a  fuller  teaching  program  is  permissible.  The  premise 

1  Out  of  one  hundred  twenty-eight  programs  in  academic  and  professional  subjects,  eighty-six,  or  sixty-seven  per 
cent,  show  ten.  or  more  periods  each  of  college  work ;  nineteen  programs  are  wholly  collegiate,  and  only  sixteen  are 
wholly  secondary.  It  is  urged  at  Springfield  that  secondary  normal  school  work  should  count  on  a  twenty-five  period 
basis  as  ordinary  high  school  work.  But  Springfield  also  avers  that  its  two  terms  of  geometry  and  of  history  are 
worth  three  in  the  high  school  because  of  its  "college"  teachers  and  mature  students! 

3  When  these  statistics  were  gathered,  the  normal  schools  were  operating-  in  general  on  a  fifty-minute  period ; 
Kirksville  lengthened  some  periods  to  fifty-five  minutes,  and  Spring-field  and  Maryville  reduced  some  to  forty-five 
minutes.  Such  differences  are  of  little  importance  in  defence  of  the  conditions  described.  When  once  adjusted  to  a 
student-group  and  prepared  to  meet  it,  a  teacher  welcomes  a  longer  hour;  it  is  the  number  of  such  readjuHtments 
that  counts.  The  longer  interval  between  classes  at  the  university  as  compared  with  exchange  of  classes  within 
a  single  building  tends  to  equalize  the  periods  still  further. 

3  It  was  interesting,  and  often  amusing,  to  observe  in  personal  interviews  with  teachers  how  naively  this  point  of 
view  was  betrayed.  Not  a  few  who  were  teaching  "  college  n  classes  twenty  or  twenty-five  periods  per  week —  a  pro- 
gram that  would  rightfully  stagger  a  mind  that  understood  what  it  meant— spoke  glibly  of  their  enjoyment  of  it. 
It  appeared  to  challenge  their  idea  of  a  good  day's  work  to  stand  before  a  class  for  as  many  hours  as  once  they  had 
kept  a  country  school.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  their  instruction  was  of  the  corresponding  type. 
*  Since  the  data  on  which  this  study  was  based  were  secured,  an  agreement  between  the  state  university  and  the 
normal  schools  stipulates  a  maximum  teaching  program  of  eighteen  hours  weekly,  To  what  extent  this  provision 
has  been  enforced  and  the  nature  of  its  effects  have  not  been  ascertained.  It  is  an  obviously  proper  arrangement. 


TEACHERS  111 

back  of  this  attitude  is  partially  true,  but  the  conclusion  is  wholly  mistaken.  Techni- 
cal research  in  education  requiring  minute  and  prolonged  experimentation  is  doubt- 
less out  of  place  in  a  training  school  under  present  conditions,  altho  this  may  be  said 
only  with  the  proviso  that  these  schools  be  kept  in  intimate  touch  with  such  work 
even  to  the  extent  of  limited  participation.  It  is  not  too  much  to  expect  that  some 
one  serious  undertaking  of  a  research  nature  should  be  under  way  at  every  normal 
school  all  of  the  time.  But  the  heart  of  the  job  in  an  institution  for  preparing  teach- 
ers is  unquestionably  the  teaching  itself.  The  foremost  feature  of  a  successful  school 
of  this  type,  the  lever  on  which  it  must  chiefly  depend  to  accomplish  its  results,  is  the 
ability  of  each  and  every  instructor  to  present  continuously  the  performance  of  the 
finished  artist  in  teaching  as  teaching.  It  is  contact  of  this  sort  that  soonest  and  most 
deeply  fastens  fine  ideals  of  teaching  in  the  minds  of  young  students.  This  ability  in 
a  teacher  is  not  the  ability  required  to  prepare  books  or  to  conduct  general  investi- 
gations. It  presupposes  rather  a  constant  and  sympathetic  intimacy  with  the  kind 
of  instruction  for  which  the  teacher  is  preparing  others;  it  develops  a  more  and 
more  sensitive  insight  into  the  needs  of  students  and  the  ways  of  winning  access  to 
them;  and,  finally,  it  commands  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  human  interest  and  per- 
sonal force  that  by  common  consent  justifies  the  name  "teacher"  in  the  greater  sense* 
All  of  this  means  devoted  thought  and  a  lavish  expenditure  of  power.  To  teach  teach- 
ers is  of  necessity  a  work  lightly  undertaken  by  many,  since  a  multitude  must  under- 
take it;  but  to  teach  teachers  well  is  the  most  exacting  and  responsible  as  it  is  per- 
haps the  most  inspiring  business  in  the  academic  world.  While,  therefore,  much  more 
must  be  demanded  of  the  normal  school  instructor  than  he  usually  gives  to-day,  he 
should  in  turn  be  protected,  even  more  than  his  colleague  in  the  university,  from 
requirements  that  check  his  growth  and  stifle  his  best  expression. 

PRODUCTIVE  SCHOLAESHIP 

For  the  reasons  just  indicated  one  may  hardly  expect  to  find  in  a  group  of  normal 
school  teachers  that  productiveness  for  publication  which  is  properly  characteristic 
of  teachers  in  a  good  college  or  university.  Fifteen  bound  volumes  by  thirteen  authors 
represented  in  1916  the  formal  output  of  these  two  hundred  teachers  thru  a  score 
of  years.  The  largest  number  at  any  one  school  is  six  at  Warrensburg.  Two-thirds  of 
these  were  modest  textbooks  of  various  kinds,  the  remainder  were  doctor's  theses  or 
dealt  with  local  history.  About  twenty  teachers  have  contributed  occasional  scien- 
tific articles  to  the  better  technical  periodicals  of  their  departments.  Perhaps  thirty 
have  written  more  or  less  for  local  school  publications  of  merit,  especially  at  Kirks- 
ville  and  Cape  Girardeau,  and  still  others  contribute  now  and  then  to  local  news- 
papers and  magazines.  Except  for  two  or  three,  it  did  not  appear  from  the  reports 
submitted1  that  any  teachers  could  be  termed  systematically  productive  in  a  profes- 
sional sense,  aside  from  their  teaching. 

*  Individual  reports  could  not  be  secured  from  Warrensburg. 


112  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

Altho  the  limitations  of  Ms  occupation  may  excuse  a  normal  school  teacher  from 
general  research  of  the  usual  academic  type,  such  exemption  can  scarcely  apply  to 
his  strictly  professional  obligations.  The  worker  of  this  class  is  supposedly  a  labo- 
ratory student  in  the  psychology  of  public  school  pupils,  and  in  the  changing  or- 
ganization of  materials  for  their  ultimate  use;  he  is  a  critical  investigator  of  the 
developing  social  needs  of  his  community,  and  of  the  failures  and  successes  of  his  stu- 
dents in  service.  He  is  confronted  with  a  vast  number  of  difficult  and  unsolved  prob- 
lems with  which  he  must  of  necessity  deal  in  one  way  or  another;  if  he  is  truly  pro- 
fessional, he  will  deal  with  them  as  scientifically  as  he  can  under  the  circumstances, 
and  with  a  progressively  experimental  purpose.  Out  of  this  experience  should  spring 
a  lively  and  invaluable  professional  literature  registering  the  progress  of  the  teacher's 
own  work  for  the  benefit  of  similar  workers  everywhei^e. 

The  lack  of  such  a  literature  and,  to  a  great  extent,  the  lack  of  the  attitude  that 
would  produce  it,  is  readily  traceable  to  causes  already  discussed.  The  deadening  load 
under  which  these  teachers  are  forced  to  work  makes  it  impossible.  Four  or  five  meet- 
ings with  classes  each  day  not  only  leaves  one  no  time  for  any  but  conventional  pro- 
cedure, but  it  sooner  or  later  paralyzes  a  teacher's  power  to  originate  and  carry  thru 
anything  else.  When  to  these  are  added  correspondence  courses,  extension  appoint- 
ments, faculty  committee  work,  and  social  obligations  with  students,  a  normal  school 
instructor  is  reduced  to  the  status  of  a  teacher  in  the  usual  secondary  boarding  school. 
All  of  these  duties  should  undoubtedly  be  performed,  but  by  other  people  whose  chief 
business  these  duties  might  be. 

Because  of  such  conditions,  and  a  frequent  lack  of  sufficiently  specialized  training, 
the  professional  consciousness  of  the  group,  so  far  as  its  concern  with  the  productive 
scholarship  of  its  craft  goes,  is  low.  With  certain  exceptions  its  members  who  seek 
public  recognition  do  so  thru  work  that  takes  them  out  of  normal  schools  instead  of 
committing  them  more  completely  to  the  interests  of  these  schools.  The  educational 
and  literary  world  is  filled  with  men  and  women  who  served  what  they  consider  a 
hard  apprenticeship  in  normal  school  work,  and  date  their  real  intellectual  debut 
from  the  time  they  left  it.  This  persistent  withdrawal  and  transfer  of  productive 
minds  to  other  fields,  this  apparent  failure  of  the  work  itself  to  engage  and  hold 
the  devotion  of  many  fine  students  who  have  undertaken  it,  has  contributed  not  a 
little  to  bring  normal  school  instruction  into  a  certain  disesteem.  "Academic"  work 
elsewhere,  even  at  an  equal  or  lower  salary,  is  very  generally  preferred.  All  of  this  is 
due  to  mistaken  ideals  and  ought  to  be  changed.  The  people  who  prepare  public 
teachers  are  potentially  among  the  most  important  servants  of  the  state.  The  soli- 
darity of  purpose  among  persons  so  commissioned  should  be  profound,  and  their 
practices  should  be  the  result  of  unlimited  professional  interaction.  More  rational 
conditions  of  preparation,  service,  and  reward  among  these  teachers  will  undoubtedly 
be  marked  by  a  productive  scholarship  that  will  be  both  an  immense  assistance  to  the 
profession  as  a  whole  and  a  reassuring  evidence  of  the  high  quality  of  its  membership. 


TEACHERS  113 

ECONOMIC  STATUS — FAMILY  AND  DEPENDENTS 

Before  discussing  the  salaries  of  the  normal  school  teachers  it  is  important  to  under- 
stand certain  other  items  that  bear  more  or  less  directly  on  their  economic  situation. 
Nearly  nine-tenths  of  the  male  instructors  in  the  normal  schools  are  married ;  of  those 
past  forty  years  of  age,  all  but  one  are  married.  Of  the  women,  about  eight  per  cent 
are  married,  all  of  these  teaching  at  Springfield  and  Cape  Girardeau. 

The  median  representative  of  the  married  teachers  has  two  children;  only  three  per 
cent  have  from  five  to  eight  children,  while  nearly  half  have  only  one  or  none.  A  fair 
comparison  may  be  made  between  the  parent  families  of  all  the  married  teachers  over 
forty  years  of  age  and  the  families  that  such  teachers  themselves  have  reared.  The 
median  number  of  children  in  the  present  generation  is  two,  and  but  thirteen  per 
cent  of  the  families  have  four  or  more.  The  representative  family  of  the  preceding 
generation  in  this  group  had  six  children;  eighty -one  per  cent  had  four  or  more,  and 
thirty-six  per  cent  had  eight  or  more  children.  The  change  in  family  life  is  noticeable 
even  between  the  older  and  the  younger  teachers.  The  median  parent-family  among 
all  those  over  forty  has  six  children  and  one-fourth  of  the  families  have  more  than 
eight;  as  compared  with  a  median  of  five  with  but  nine  per  cent  having  over  eight 
in  the  younger  group.  The  women  come  from  smaller  families  than  the  men  in  both 
age  groups,  as  they  are  more  frequently  from  professional  or  commercial  families  in 
towns  and  cities. 

The  number  of  dependents  measures  the  economic  burden  with  greater  accuracy 
than  the  number  of  children.  Here  again  the  men  are  distinguished  sharply  from  the 
women.  Only  one-eighth  of  the  men  have  no  dependents,  while  of  the  women  more 
than  half  have  only  themselves  to  care  for.  Nearly  half  of  the  men  have  more  than  two 
dependents,  while  slightly  over  one-tenth  of  the  women  have  as  many.  One-fourth  of 
the  men  have  more  dependents  than  any  of  the  women  except  two.1 

LENGTH  OF  TENURE 

The  length  of  tenure  in  normal  school  positions  is  not  unlike  that  in  the  univer- 
sity. About  sixty  per  cent  of  the  teachers  in  both  university  and  normal  schools  have 
been  in  the  institution  from  one  to  five  years.  Twenty  per  cent  at  the  normal  schools 
and  twenty-seven  per  cent  at  the  university  have  served  there  nine  years  or  longer. 
One  man  in  each  group  has  served  over  thirty  years.  Among  the  five  normal  schools, 
Maryville  and  Cape  Girardeau  exhibit  the  greatest  contrast.  Maryville  has  nearly 
twice  as  large  a  proportion  of  one  or  two  year  teachers  as  has  Cape  Girardeau.  Cape 
Girardeau  in  fact  shows  a  stability  of  faculty  personnel  exceeding  even  that  of  the 
university,  tho  the  significance  of  this  can  of  course  be  judged  only  in  connection  with 
training,  experience,  salaries,  and  proved  teaching  ability. 

1  The  differences  between  the  schools  are  sometimes  marked,  tho  probably  without  significance.  At  Maryville  a  third 
of  the  men  and  half  the  women  are  unencumbered,  while  at  Springfield  three-fifths  of  the  women  but  none  of  the 
men  are  without  dependents. 


PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

SALARIES — VARIATION  AMONG  THE  SCHOOLS 

The  salary  variations  among  the  five  schools  are  large,  revealing  again  the  lack  of 
any  stable  principle  guiding  the  regulation  of  wholly  identical  work  for  identical  pur- 
poses.1 Teachers  at  Warrensburg  are  better  off  by  two  hundred  fifty  dollars  than  at 
Kirksville,  The  median  salary  of  women  teachers  at  Springfield  is  one  hundred  forty 
dollars  less  than  at  Warrensburg,  while  the  median  figure  at  Springfield  for  both 
men  and  women  is  three  hundred  fifty  dollars  below  the  median  at  Warrensburg. 
Springfield,  however,  pays  three-fifths  of  its  men  over  eighteen  hundred  dollars  as 
compared  with  one-quarter  so  paid  at  Kirksville  and  one-eighth  at  Mary ville.  Kirks- 
ville  gives  only  half  of  its  women  teachers  more  than  twelve  hundred  dollars,  tho 
at  Warrensburg  eighty-four  per  cent  receive  from  twelve  to  eighteen  hundred.  Such 
marked  differences  have  no  justification  and  indicate  weakness  in  the  general  admin- 
istration. 

COMPAEISON  WITH  THE  UNIVERSITY 

The  difference  between  the  median  salary  at  the  normal  schools  and  that  paid  at  the 
university  is  $550.2  For  the  amount  of  work  done  as  shown  in  weeks  of  service  and 
hours  of  instruction  the  normal  school  salaries,  if  rated  by  college  standards,  are  ab- 
surdly low.  Considering  their  shorter  year's  work,  the  high  school  teachers  of  large 
cities  are  much  better  paid3  than  these  officers  of  the  state  engaged  in  what  the  state 
recognizes  as  collegiate  instruction  for  one  of  its  most  important  professional  groups. 
One  of  the  dozen  highest  paid  men  in  the  normal  schools  receives  $2400  for  a  year's 
work.  The  corresponding  teacher  at  a  standard  college  receives  $2500  to  $3000,  and 
teaches  three-fourths  as  many  weeks  in  the  year  and  three-fifths  as  many  hours  in  the 
week.  Correcting  a  moderate  college  salary,  say  $2500,  for  these  two  extra  loads,  we 
find  that  the  college  instructor  would  draw  about  $5500  if  at  his  present  rate  of  re- 
ward he  performed  the  time  equivalent  of  what  the  normal  school  man  now  does  for 
$2400.  The  college  instructor  does  not  receive  this  higher  recognition  for  nothing. 
He  supplies  in  knowledge,  training,  and  grasp  of  his  subject  a  commodity  that  is 
worth  already  more  than  he  gets  for  it,  and  if  it  be  proposed  to  demand  an  equiva- 
lent from  normal  school  instructors,  the  indispensable  outward  indication  that  such 
equivalence  has  been  established  is  the  approximate  equality  of  reward. 

THE  BEST  PAID  GROUPS 

Normal  school  salaries  show  no  correlation  with  rank,  as  at  the  university,  since 
the  normal  schools  have  no  such  groupings  of  instructors.  Age  has  some  influence. 

1  See  page  423. 

2  In  arriving  at  this  result  the  salaries  at  the  university  have  been  raised  by  the  proportion  of  salary  regularly  paid 
by  the  university  for  summer  session  instruction  to  compensate  for  the  additional  term  of  work  required  at  the 
normal  schools  and  included  in  the  normal  school  teacher's  salary.  See  page  423,  note  2. 

a  Median  salary  of  St.  Louis  high  school  teachers,  $1640.  Correcting  this  for  six  weeks  additional  instruction  required 
of  normal  school  teachers  would  give  about  $1875.  The  hours  of  weekly  program  of  the  two  institutions  are  not  far 
apart — twenty-two  to  twenty-five. 


TEACHERS  115 

All  those  receiving  over  $#000  are  thirty  years  of  age  or  over.  No  one  over  thirty  re- 
ceives less  than  $1080.  Those  receiving  $1600  and  above  number  eight  per  cent  of  the 
teachers  in  their  twenties,  forty-seven  per  cent  of  those  in  their  thirties,  fifty-six  per 
cent  of  those  in  their  forties,  and  all  of  the  remainder.  The  teachers  of  the  group 
receiving  more  than  $£000  number  twenty-four,  all  men,  and  exhibit  certain  charac- 
teristics that  throw  light  on  conditions  of  promotion.  Only  five  are  over  fifty  years  of 
age.  As  a  group  they  have  had  nineteen  years  of  total  experience,  and  have  held  their 
present  positions  for  eight  years.  They  teach  about  twenty  hours  per  week,  twelve 
of  them  teaching  science  or  mathematics,  six  education,  and  six  history,  languages, 
or  music.  Aside  from  the  five  who  teach  mathematics,  four  only,  one  each  in  music, 
history,  geography,  and  English,  are  specialists  in  subjects  taught  in  the  elementary 
schools ;  seven  are  deans  or  directors  of  training  schools.  Two-thirds  of  the  number 
have  their  present  work  clearly  correlated  with  their  training  and  experience,  eleven 
having  graduate  degrees,  in  most  cases  from  first  class  institutions;  four  show  excel- 
lent training  without  specific  experience,  and  three  have  had  appropriate  experience 
but  lack  training.  In  three-fourths  of  the  cases  the  visitors'  estimates  of  their  ability 
were  favorable. 

The  sixteen  highest  paid  women  receive  between  $1500  and  $2000,  Two  are  under 
thirty  years  of  age;  three  are  fifty  or  over.  Five  have  no  four-year  degrees;  of  the  re- 
mainder, eight  hold  the  degrees  of  good  institutions;  four  have  done  graduate  work, 
one  holding  a  Ph.D.  from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  As  a  group  they  have  a 
median  total  experience  of  twelve  years,  seven  of  which  were  in  the  present  position. 
They  teach  about  twenty-two  hours  weekly  in  the  following  subjects:  history  (1), 
mathematics  ($),  English  (3),  art  (3),  home  economics  (3),  foreign  languages  (1),  and 
supervision  (3).  Here,  as  with  the  men,  the  special  subjects  of  instruction  in  elemen- 
tary schools  are  meagrely  represented.  Nine  of  the  sixteen  teachers  show  a  definite 
correlation  of  training  and  experience  with  their  present  work;  five  lack  suitable  ex- 
perience in  elementary  schools,  and  two  lack  specific  training.  Four  were  not  visited, 
but  only  one  of  the  remaining  twelve  impressed  the  enquirers  as  being  an  unsuccessful 
teacher. 

On  the  whole,  the  high  salaries  for  both  men  and  women  in  the  normal  schools 
appear  to  represent  a  genuine  selection  with  emphasis  on  good  training,  helpful  expe- 
rience, and  genuine  ability  rather  than  on  age  or  tenure,  tho  instances  occur  of  each 
of  tbe  latter.  There  is  an  obvious  tendency,  however,  to  favor  teachers  of  academic 
and  college  subjects  or  special  subjects  such  as  music,  art,  or  home  economics,  to  the 
disadvantage  of  subjects  bearing  directly  on  the  needs  of  elementary  school  teachers.1 
This  appears  to  mean  either  that  marked  skill  in  the  fundamental  function  of  a  nor- 
mal school  teacher,  that  is,  the  giving  of  specific  instruction  in  how  to  teach,  has  a 
relatively  diminished  chance  of  financial  recognition,  or  else  that  superior  ability  of 
that  kind  is  not  present. 

1  Of  the  seven  well-paid  teachers  of  mathematics  five  teach  arithmetic,  one  cl^?ss  each. 


116  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

INSURANCE 

There  is  no  retiring  allowance  system  affecting  normal  school  teachers  in  Missouri ; 
their  provision  for  the  future  must  therefore  depend  upon  their  private  savings  either 
directly  or  in  some  form  of  insurance.  Nearly  twice  as  large  a  proportion  of  men  are 
insured  as  of  women,  the  proportion  of  men  varying  from  seventy-two  per  cent  at 
Springfield  to  ninety  per  cent  at  Cape  Girardeau,  and  of  women  from  twenty-eight 
per  cent  at  Kirksville  to  fifty-five  per  cent  at  Warrensburg.  Three-fifths  of  the  insured 
women  hold  endowment  policies  only,  and  one-fourth  more  hold  both  endowment  and 
other  forms.  Less  than  one- fourth  of  the  insured  men  carry  endowment  policies  only, 
tho  two-fifths  carry  both  forms.  Of  the  forty-one  women  reporting  insurance  nearly 
one-half  report  the  amount  as  $1000.  One-fourth  carry  from  $1000  to  $2000,  and 
none  holds  over  $4300.  One-third  of  the  men,  on  the  other  hand,  have  from  $£500  to 
$5000  in  insurance,  only  six  per  cent  holding  less  than  $1500,  and  the  highest  group 
— thirteen  per  cent — carrying  from  $8250  to  $11,000.  Two  individuals  carry  $15,000 
and  $17,000.  Of  the  teachers  with  dependents  four-fifths  are  insured  as  compared  with 
two-fifths  of  those  without  dependents,  and  in  general  the  amount  increases  with  the 
number  of  dependents. 

TEACHERS  AT  HARRIS  TEACHERS  COLLEGE 

The  twelve  teachers  reporting  in  1915  from  Harris  Teachers  College  at  St.  Louis 
are  older  than  those  in  the  state  normal  schools ;  the  median  age  of  the  five  men  was 
forty-three,  and  of  the  seven  women  fifty  years.  Nine  were  Americans,  one  was  of  Eng- 
lish, one  of  Irish,  and  one  of  German  parentage.  Four  were  children  of  farmers,  and 
grew  up  in  families  averaging  six  children  each.  Two  were  born  in  Missouri,  and  one 
gave  no  record;  the  remaining  nine  represent  nine  different  states  east  of  the  Missis- 
sippi from  Tennessee  north.  One  woman  and  all  of  the  men  were  married;  three  had 
children. 

Four  teachers  of  art,  physical  training,  and  penmanship  had  special  education  for 
those  subjects.  The  rest  held  bachelor's  degrees,  all  but  two  from  first  class  colleges, 
and  these  two  later  took  graduate  degrees.  Two  held  the  doctor's  degree,  and  one 
other  the  master's  degree;  all  from  first  class  institutions.  Eight  had  been  partially 
trained  in  normal  schools.  Teaching  experience  ranged  from  twelve  to  thirty-four 
years  with  twenty-one  as  the  median;  the  median  tenure  of  position  at  the  present 
institution  was  nine  years.  All  but  one  had  experience  in  elementary  teaching,  while 
three  only  lacked  secondary  school  experience.  In  normal  school  work  the  experience 
ranged  from  three  to  eighteen  years,  and  two  had  taught  in  colleges. 

The  salaries  are  higher  than  at  the  state  schools,  and  the  men  receive  over  one- 
third  more  than  the  women.  The  median  salary  for  men  is  $£850,  and  for  women 
$1880;  the  average  salary  is  about  $150  greater  in  each  case. 

Compared  with  the  teachers  in  the  state  schools,  it  may  be  said  that  the  teachers 
at  the  Harris  Teachers  College  are,  as  a  group,  more,  mature,  have  better  training, 


STUDENTS  117 

more,  and  more  appropriate,  experience,  and  are  better  paid.  Furthermore,  instead 
of  twenty  or  twenty-five  periods,  their  programs  average  about  ten  class-periods  per 
week  with  a  maximum  of  fifteen.  There  are  in  addition  certain  obligations  in  the  ex- 
tension department,  but  the  total  average  load  never  exceeds  fifteen  hours. 


B.  STUDENTS1 

AGE  AND  SEX — NATIONALITY  AND  NATIVITY 

The  five  state  normal  schools  of  Missouri  enroll  annually  between  seven  and  eight 
thousand  students.  Twenty-eight  per  cent  are  men,  and  slightly  over  half  are  second- 
ary students,  altho  both  of  these  proportions  are  diminishing  with  some  rapidity.2 
The  ages  of  the  group  range  from  twelve  to  over  fifty  years ;  about  three  hundred 
are  sixteen  or  less,  and  a  few  more  than  this  are  over  thirty;  but  the  middle  fifty  per 
cent  ranges  from  eighteen  to  twenty-two  inclusive.  The  median  age  for  all  students 
is  twenty  years;  in  the  group  attending  only  in  summer,  it  is  twenty-two;  twenty  and 
twenty-two  are  likewise  the  median  ages  in  the  secondary  and  collegiate  groups.3 

Slightly  over  half  of  the  students  report  the  nationality 4  of  their  parents  to  be 
American.  Maryville  with  two-thirds,  and  Cape  Girardeau  with  one-third,  represent 
the  extreme  proportions.  English  and  German  are  the  predominant  foreign  ele- 
ments, and  occur  in  nearly  equal  numbers.5  Natives  of  Missouri  constitute  nearly 
seven-eighths  of  the  students.  The  collegiate  students  are  nearly  three-fifths  town 
bred,  while  but  half  as  many  of  the  secondary  students  are  from  town. 

PARENTAL  OCCUPATION  AND  INCOME — SIZE  OF  FAMILY 

A  study  of  the  parental  occupations  emphasizes  the  dominant  rural  background. 
Parents  engaged  in  agriculture  furnish  sixty-five  per  cent  of  all  the  students,  altho 
agriculture  engages  but  thirty-five  per  cent  of  the  industrial  population  of  the  state.6 
Seventy-seven  per  cent  of  the  secondary  students  come  from  such  homes,  while  but 
sixty-two  per  cent  of  the  collegiate  men  and  forty-eight  per  cent  of  the  collegiate 
women  were  children  of  farmers.  On  the  other  hand,  twelve  per  cent  of  the  collegiate 
students  are  children  of  professional  men,  a  class  who  make  up  less  than  five  per  cent 
of  the  population. 

It  is  usually  difficult  even  for  the  farmer  himself  to  form  an  exact  estimate  of  his 
annual  income.  It  was  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  secure  such  estimates  only  from 
about  half  of  the  students  who  replied.  Just  half  of  these  report  $1000  or  less,  while 
thirty  per  cent  were  from  families  receiving  over  $1500.  But  of  the  college  women 
taken  alone,  forty-five  per  cent  had  family  incomes  of  more  than  $1500,  while  only 

1  For  a  description  of  the  data  from  which  the  conclusions  in  this  section  are  derived,  see  pages  402-404. 

*  See  pages  428, 429,          8  See  page  429. 

*  It  is  quite  possible  that  some  students  confused  this  term  with  ancestry.  The  school  authorities  at  Cape  Girardeau 
believe  this  certainly  to  be  the  case  there. 

c  See  page  429.          c  See  page  430. 


118  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

twenty-eight  per  cent  of  the  college  men  were  so  well  off.1  This  modest  financial  status 
of  the  student's  family  reappears  in  the  extent  to  which  self-help  is  undertaken.  Half 
of  the  men  and  nearly  a  third  of  the  women  were  wholly  self-supporting,  and  a  few 
others  —  seven  per  cent — supported  themselves  in  part.  Of  the  collegiate  group 
about  two -thirds  of  the  men  were  self-supporting.2 

As  in  the  case  of  normal  school  teachers,  the  students  are  from  large  families.  The 
median  size  is  six  with  sixteen  per  cent  from  families  of  nine  or  more  children,3  while 
the  median  student  in  the  school  of  education  at  the  university  is  from  a  four-child 
family,  and  but  eight  per  cent  come  from  families  of  nine  or  more  children. 

CHOICE  OF  VOCATION —  OTHER  TEACHERS  IN  FAMILY 

The  student's  selection  of  teaching  as  an  occupation  appears  to  have  been  largely 
due  to  the  fact  that  some  other  member  of  the  family  had  taught.  This  possibility 
appears  at  least  in  the  cases  of  over  three-fifths  of  the  students ;  one-seventh  of  them 
all  belong  to  families  having  three  or  more  other  teachers.4  The  proportion  from  fami- 
lies other  members  of  which  at  some  time  attended  a  normal  school  is  still  greater — 
sixty-five  per  cent;5 and  in  nearly  all  cases  these  had  attended  the  particular  normal 
school  concerned.  In  two  of  the  schools,  Cape  Girardeau  and  Springfield,  the  students 
were  asked  what  person  or  circumstance  first  interested  them  in  teaching.  Half  of  them 
referred  the  suggestion  to  their  families,  and  a  fifth  were  inspired  by  "teachers;11  three 
per  cent  suggested  their  desire  for  self-support. 

FINANCIAL  ATTRACTION 

That  the  prospect  of  financial  return  enters  largely  into  the  reckoning  appears 
significantly  from  the  replies  to  another  question.  "Is  teaching  the  best-paid  employ- 
ment you  could  undertake?1'  was  answered  by  seven-eighths  of  the  attendance  at  all 
the  schools.  Seven-eighths  of  the  women  thought  teaching  their  most  promising  op- 
portunity, while  fewer  than  half  of  the  men  were  of  that  opinion ;  the  proportion  of 
secondary  students  is  a  little  higher  in  each  case  than  in  the  college  group.6  Taken  in 
connection  with  the  large  majority  of  men  not  intending  to  teach  permanently  7  this 
result  was,  of  course,  to  be  expected.  Even  the  forty-eight  per  cent  who  favored  teach- 
ing very  likely  considered  it  more  profitable  as  an  immediate  and  temporary  occu- 
pation only.  In  preference  to  teaching,  agriculture  received  nearly  half  of  the  men's 
votes  and  clerical  occupations  nearly  half  of  the  women's;  professional  services  of 
various  kinds  and  trade  are  the  next  choices. 

DISTANCE  FROM  SCHOOL 

The  effect  of  the  school  itself  in  determining  the  choices  of  students  is  difficult  to 
measure.  Like  most  other  educational  institutions,  its  influence  saturates  its  imme- 

1  See  page  431.  2  See  page  431.  3  See  page  431.  4  See  page  432.  *  See  page  432.  6  See  page  431. 
T  See  page  434. 


STUDENTS  119 

diate  vicinity,  and  weakens  rapidly  with  increasing  distance.  Accessibility,  too,  plays 
an  important  role.  The  local  county  supplies  about  one-fourth  of  all  the  students  in 
the  normal  schools,  including  eighteen  per  cent  who  come  from  the  local  town.  Six 
or  seven  contiguous  counties  furnish  another  fourth ;  the  remaining  twelve  or  fifteen 
counties  in  the  district  contribute  a  third,  while  one-seventh  come  from  other  portions 
of  the  state.  Three  per  cent  come  from  outside  the  state.  The  schools  have  steadily 
claimed  that  much  of  their  local  attendance  consists  of  students  who  have  changed 
their  residence  for  the  sake  of  school  privileges.  This  seems  technically  to  be  the  case, 
but  the  inference  as  to  its  significance  may  hardly  be  justified;  many  have  indeed 
moved  into  town  for  the  sake  of  the  school  privileges,  but  probably  not  more  than 
one-fifth  of  all  these  local  students  come  from  beyond  the  next  county.1 

PREVIOUS  EDUCATION 

The  previous  education  of  normal  school  students  depends  upon  the  occupation 
of  their  parents.  More  than  two-fifths  had  their  elementary  education  in  the  rural 
schools  only.  The  remainder  in  about  equal  numbers  attended  graded  schools  or  had 
a  combination  of  graded  and  rural  school  training.  When  questioned  as  to  the  amount 
of  elementary  school  attendance,  they  show  a  median  of  sixty-one  months,  or  between 
seven  and  eight  years  of  eight  months  each.  The  reports  of  one- third  fall  within  this 
eighth  year,  a  third  had  more,  and  nearly  a  thii'd  had  less.  Over  half  report  having 
had  from  five  to  eight  elementary  teachers;  nearly  one-third  had  from  nine  to  twelve, 
and  but  one-tenth  had  more.2 

The  high  school  education  of  secondary  normal  school  students  will  be  shown  in 
considering  the  administrative  problem  of  the  secondary  student.3  In  the  case  of  the 
collegiate  students,  the  most  conservative  figures  would  indicate  that  in  191S-14  two 
out  of  three  men  and  somewhat  more  than  four  out  of  five  women  had  at  some  time 
attended  high  school.4  Two-fifths  and  three-fifths,  respectively,  had  attended  a  first 
class  high  school.  Completion  of  secondary  work  in  high  school  is,  of  course,  another 
matter.  The  imperfect  records  available  show  that  in  1913— 14  twenty-eight  per  cent 
of  the  collegiate  men  and  fifty-three  per  cent  of  the  collegiate  women  had  done  their 
secondary  work  before  coming  to  the  normal  school.5  Approximately  the  same  propor- 
tions hold  in  the  case  of  graduates,  and  are  often  much  higher  especially  among  two- 
year  graduates.6 

1  Data  represent  resident  students  at  Kirksville,  Warrensburg,  and  Mary ville.  Of  those  reporting  local  residence 
(440),  one-half  say  their  parents  moved  thither  for  the  sake  of  school  privileges.  But  of  these  one-fourth  moved  in 
from  the  same  county,  more  than  one-third  from  contiguous  counties,  and  two-fifths  only,  or  one-fifth  of  the  entire 
local  group,  from  the  remainder  of  the  district  or  elsewhere. 

2  Data  used  in  this  paragraph  were  secured  from  Kirksville,  Warrensburg,  and  Maryville  only.  An  occasional 
student  coming:  from  the  practice  schools  confesses  to  having  had  up  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  elementary 
teachers ! 

3  See  page  296,          *  See  page  432.          5  Reports  from  1656  elementary  teachers  show  similar  results.  See  page  439. 
6  In  the  eight  years  from  1907  to  1914,  fifty-six  per  cent  of  the  two-year  graduates  at  Springfield  took  their  secondary 
school  preparation  elsewhere,  largely  at  the  Springfield  high  school  and  Drury  College,  these  two  institutions  to- 
gether sending  forty-two  per  cent  of  those  prepared  outside  the  normal  school.  At  Kirksville  forty-seven  per  cent 


PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

The  figures  given  above  were  gathered  at  the  beginning  of  this  study  for  a  still 
earlier  period  and  are  certainly  conservative,  owing  to  the  defective  records  of  many 
who  were  probably  high  school  students.  The  replies  of  the  students  attending  when 
the  schools  were  visited  in  1915  may  show  the  conditions  more  truly.  To  the  direct 
question:  "Are  you  a  graduate  of  a  four-year  high  school?"  four-fifths  of  the  collegi- 
ate women  and  three-fifths  of  the  collegiate  men  reporting  at  Kirksville,  Warrensburg, 
and  Maryville  said  "Yes."  Students  in  all  five  schools  replied  as  to  the  accessibility  of 
a  three  or  four  year  high  school.  Seven-eighths  of  the  collegiate  women  had  had  such 
schools  accessible,  and  seventy-one  per  cent  had  completed  the  course;  two-thirds  of 
the  collegiate  men  lived  near  such  high  schools,  and  nearly  half  completed  courses 
there. 

If  the  conditions  indicated  here  are  typical,  they  are  evidence  of  the  existence  within 
the  normal  schools  of  two  relatively  distinct  institutions,  one  recruited  mainly  from 
high  school  graduates  who  come  in  for  the  higher  work,  and  the  other  a  shifting  col- 
lection of  secondary  students  who  in  general  do  not  continue  their  education  at  the 
institution.  Such  disparate  groups  need  different  treatment.  As  set  forth  elsewhere,1 
the  normal  school  should  probably  be  relieved  of  the  secondary  student  altogether. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  plainly  exists  a  collegiate  student  body  of  sufficiently  homo- 
geneous characteristics  and  preparation  to  make  possible  the  organization  of  profes- 
sional education  on  a  satisfactory  basis. 

Two  further  items  in  the  data  on  high  school  attendance  may  be  of  interest.  One 
is  the  fact  that  the  collegiate  men  represent  high  school  training  to  a  much  smaller 
extent  than  the  women.  In  the  enrolment  of  1913-14,  slightly  over  half  as  large  a  pro- 
portion of  men  as  of  women  attended  a  first  class  high  school  for  four  years,2  tho  this 
varies  at  different  schools.3  In  turn,  twice  as  large  a  proportion  of  men  as  of  women 
were  educated  solely  at  the  normal  school.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  ultimate  pur- 
pose of  the  normal  school  this  is  an  unprofitable  situation :  a  group  of  people  who  have 
but  a  transitory  connection  with  the  profession  in  the  state  is  receiving  an  excessive 
share  of  the  school's  attention. 

The  other  point  to  be  noted  is  that  the  group  of  students  attending  only  in  the 

of  all  graduates,  1909-15,  were  prepared  in  high  schools;  in  1914  and  1915  alone,  fifty-two  per  cent.  At  Cape  Girar- 
deau,  fifty-five  per  cent  of  the  sixty-hour  class  of  1914,  and  in  1917  sixty  per  cent  of  all  graduates  were  high  school 
graduates  also.  At  Warrensburg,  the  sixty-hour  class  of  1915  showed  seventy-seven  per  cent  who  were  prepared 
wholly  outside  and  ten  per  cent  in  addition  who  had  over  three  years  of  high  school  work. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  in  general  high  school  graduates  do  not  remain  at  normal  schools  for  the  four-year  degrees. 
At  Kirksville,  where  most  of  these  degrees  have  been  granted,  but  one-quarter  of  them  were  conferred  upon  high 
school  graduates  from  1909  to  1915,  as  compared  with  one-half  of  the  one  and  two  year  certificates  which  went  to  high 
school  graduates.  At  Cape  Girardeau,  1917,  one-third  of  the  four-year  degrees  went  to  high  school  graduates,  as 
compared  with  three-fifths  of  the  shorter  course  certificates.  The  figures  here  given  are  for  groups  casually  selected 
as  more  or  less  complete  information  was  accessible. 
1  See  page  295.  2  See  page  432. 

8  Warrensburg  and  Maryville  show  twice  the  proportion  of  the  other  three  schools.  At  Springfield  and  Cape  Girar- 
deau this  might  be  expected,  owing  to  the  backward  character  of  large  areas  within  these  two  districts.  The  Kirks- 
ville district,  however,  led  all  others  in  the  number  of  first  class  high  schools  in  1915,  having  fifty-three,  as  com- 
pared with  thirty-seven  and  forty-four  in  the  Warrensburg  and  Maryville  districts.  Yet  the  proportion  of  men  at 
Kirksville  in  1916  who  graduated  from  high  schools  is  only  about  half  that  in  the  other  two  schools.  The  situa- 
tion is  difficult  to  explain  unless  by  reference  to  Kirksville's  peculiar  policies  for  attracting  and  retaining  in  her 
collegiate  department  men  students  whose  secondary  work  is  incomplete. 


STUDENTS  121 

summer  represents  consistently  more  of  the  high  school  product  than  does  the  attend- 
ance at  the  regular  session.  The  collegiate  summer  students  have  an  advantage  of  nine 
percent  in  the  number  of  those  having  had  four  years  in  a  first  class  high  school.  This 
seems  to  indicate  that  the  high  school  graduate  is  more  likely  to  go  directly  into  teach- 
ing, attending  the  normal  school  later  as  required  in  order  to  maintain  certificates 
or  professional  status.  Such  a  tendency  coincides  with  the  reports  from  high  schools 
quoted  below. 

QUALITY  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  STUDENT 

Certain  other  facts  may  be  presented  in  this  connection  that  throw  light  on  the 
normal  school  student  from  an  outside  source.  The  principals  of  fifty-eight  first  class 
high  schools,  outside  of  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City,  were  asked  to  rate  in  three  grades 
the  members  of  one  of  their  recent  graduating  classes,  first,  as  to  their  standing  in 
studies,  and  again  as  to  the  quality  of  their  personality,1  indicating  in  each  case  the 
occupation  of  the  student  during  the  following  year.  The  replies  show,  for  these  schools 
and  classes,  the  proportions  in  which  the  students  in  three  quality  groups  are  distrib- 
uted among  various  types  of  occupation  or  institution.2  The  ratings  concern  a  total 
of  nearly  nine  hundred  graduates. 

The  most  striking  revelation  is  the  exceedingly  small  proportion  of  high  school 
graduates  who  go  at  once  to  normal  schools  —  six  per  cent.  The  reason,  to  be  sure,  is 
not  far  to  seek :  over  one- third  of  the  girls  and  nearly  one-tenth  of  the  boys  from  these 
high  schools  go  directly  into  teaching.  For  this  work  most  of  them  have  the  prepara- 
tion afforded  by  the  high  school  training  classes.3 

The  qualitative  features  of  the  ratings  are  suggestive.  The  college  group,  which 
takes  forty-seven  per  cent  of  the  men  graduates,  includes  sixty-five  per  cent  of  the  men 
whose  personality  rating  is  "  A "  as  compared  with  forty-seven  per  cent  of  the  men  who 
are  "A"  in  their  studies.  The  same  relation  obtains  among  the  women,  altho  to  a 
less  degree.  The  graduates  in  the  normal  school  and  teaching  groups,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  stronger  in  their  studies  than  in  their  personal  qualities.  Over  half  of  the 
women  who  rank  "A"  in  studies  go  to  the  normal  school  or  into  teaching  as  com- 
pared with  less  than  one-quarter  who  attend  college. 

Analysis  of  the  distribution  according  to  quality  within  each  institution  or  occu- 
pation* indicates  the  same  result.  Of  the  college  men  less  than  one-third  received 
u  A"  in  studies,  but  in  morale  they  are  superior,  having  more  "A's"  than  "B's"  in 

1  The  enquiry  to  the  principals  ran  in  part  as  follows: "  You  are  requested  to  list  below  the  members  of  the  grad- 
uating class,  indicating-  in  each  case  (1)  a  percentage  rating  which  shall  approximately  express  the  standing  of  the 
individual  in  his  studies;  (2)  a  letter  rating  in  three  grades,  from  A  down  to  C,  which  shall  express  your  estimate 
of  the  general  efficiency  of  the  individual  as  to  character,  initiative,  and  personal  effectiveness;  (3)  the  occupation 
of  the  individual  during  the  succeeding  year." 

2  See  page  482. 

8  Of  the  fifty-eight  schools  reporting,  twenty-four  had  training  classes  that  year,  and  the  graduates  of  these  train- 
ing classes  numbered  altogether  two  hundred  one,  practically  all  of  whom  taught  the  next  year.  This  is  almost 
tne  total  number  who  went  directly  into  teaching — two  hundred  twenty.  How  many  of  them  finally  go  to  the 
normal  schools  either  for  summer  terms  or  as  regular  attendants  is  uncertain. 
*  See  page  433. 


122  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

personality.  The  men  graduates  of  high  schools  who  are  in  normal  school  or  are  teach- 
ing, on  the  contrary,  show  high  ability  in  studies,  but  relatively  low  ratings  for  per- 
sonality; thus,  while  forty- four  per  cent  of  the  normal  school  men  received  "A"  in 
studies,  only  eleven  per  cent  received  "A"  in  personality,  as  compared  with  sixty-seven 
per  cent  who  received  "B."  The  women  show  a  contrast  of  the  same  sort,  which  is 
more  significant  because  their  numbers  are  larger.  More  than  half  of  the  college  women 
are  rated  "A"  in  personality  as  compared  with  thirty-six  per  cent  rated  "B,"  while 
at  the  normal  schools  and  in  teaching  the  ratio  is  nearly  reversed. 

If  the  collective  judgment  of  these  high  school  principals  is  correct,  it  shows  that 
among  graduates  from  high  school  both  the  immediate  work  of  teaching  and  the 
normal  schools  themselves  are  attracting  good  and  industrious  minds  but  second-rate 
personalities,  while  the  college  draws  the  strongest,  most  virile,  and  ambitious  char- 
acters, tho  not  necessarily  those  who  are  the  best  in  studies.  This  would  corroborate, 
to  an  extent,  the  popular  judgment  in  the  matter.  It  is  a  situation  that  can  hardly 
be  changed  until  a  standard  preparation  is  required  for  teaching,  and  the  normal 
schools,  instead  of  loosely  knit  catchalls  with  vague  functions,  become  intensively  or- 
ganized, self-critical,  and  selective  institutions.  Such  a  consummation  waits  directly 
upon  a  social  policy  that  will  subsidize  far  more  heavily  than  to-day  both  the  process 
and  the  product  of  such  schools.1 

COMPARISON  OF  SECONDARY  TRAINING  IN  HIGH  SCHOOL  AND  IN  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

The  object  of  a  second  minor  excursus,  undertaken  in  connection  with  the  consid- 
eration of  high  school  preparation  for  the  normal  school,  was  to  discover  the  quality 
of  work  done  in  the  normal  school  by  high  school  graduates,  as  compared  with  the 
work  done  by  students  whose  secondary  training  was  secured  in  the  normal  schools 
themselves.  With  this  in  view,  graduates  of  each  school,  except  Maryville,  who  had 
completed  there  eight  or  more  units  of  secondary  work,2  were  compared,  as  to  the 
ratings  earned  on  their  subsequent  college  work,  with  graduates  who  had  taken  more 
than  fifteen  units  in  high  school.  That  is,  the  marks  given  in  each  school  to  the  group 
of  graduates  prepared  wholly  outside  were  compared  with  those  given  to  graduates 
who  had  from  half  (presumably  the  latter  half)  to  all  of  their  preparation  in  the  school. 
The  ratings  of  about  four  hundred  students  were  examined.3 

The  results  of  this  comparison  are  negative  rather  than  otherwise.  Kirks vi lie  rates 
the  high  school  graduates  in  these  classes  slightly  higher  than  the  students  to  whom 
she  has  herself  given  secondary  training;  in  the  sixty-hour  group  the  difference  is 
marked.  The  other  three  schools,  however,  give  a  few  more  high  ratings  to  those  who 

1  The  figures  used  here  are  for  graduates  of  first  class  high  schools  only.  Returns  from  one  hundred  twenty-two  sec- 
ond and  third  class  and  unclassified  schools  are  less  reliable,  but  show  the  same  tendencies,  especially  in  the  lower 
ratings  of  those  who  leave  high  school  to  teach  as  compared  with  those  who  continue. 

8  It  was  necessary  to  include  some  who  had  had  a  part  of  their  secondary  training  outside  of  the  normal  school  in 
order  to  make  the  two  groups  comparable  in  size. 
s  See  page  483. 


STUDENTS 

have  taken  their  secondary  work  locally.  On  the  whole.  It  does  not  appear  that  high 
school  graduates  fare  conspicuously  better  or  worse  than  those  who  take  secondary 
work  in  the  normal  school. 

ATTENDANCE  AT  COLLEGES  AND  OTHEB  NOJIMAL  SCHOOLS 

The  normal  schools  do  not  appear  to  draw  extensively  from  colleges,  or  to  exchange 
many  students  among  themselves.  Prom  the  collegiate  attendance  at  these  schools 
during  the  regular  session  of  1915  nine  per  cent  had  attended  colleges,  two- thirds  of 
them  for  a  year  or  less.  Three-fourths  of  these  were  women,  and  about  st  third  of  the 
total  had  been  at  the  state  university.  Of  the  whole  attendance  for  the  same  time  and 
schools,  but  three  per  cent  had  been  at  other  normal  schools,  and  three-fourths  of 
these  were  at  other  schools  in  Missouri. 

TEACHING  EXPEBIENCE 

The  most  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  student  body  in  many  western  nor- 
mal schools,  as  compared  with  that  of  other  higher  institutions,  is  the  fact  that,  for 
the  most  part,  its  members  are  drawn  intermittently  from  active  pursuit  of  the  prac- 
tice for  which  the  schools  are  expected  to  prepare  them.  In  Missouri  this  situation 
is  due  chiefly  to  the  mistaken  policy  of  the  state  in  allowing  Its  teacher  supply  to  be 
regulated  largely  by  local  economic  considerations  instead  of  buttressing  the  schools 
with  reasonable  legislation;  but  the  schools  themselves  are  partly  responsible.  Altho 
the  results  of  this  practice  are  unquestionably  bad  for  the  service  in  that  the  lower 
positions  are  systematically  exploited  for  the  sake  of  the  higher,  the  ad  vantage  to  the 
individual  student  is  marked.  It  gives  him  the  opportunity  of  earning  the  money  to 
pay  his  way,  and  the  effect  of  these  inter-layers  of  experience  upon  his  education,  is 
doubtless  stimulating  to  a  limited  extent,  assuming  that  he  is  preparing  to  teach  per- 
manently; where  the  student  is  simply  alternating  study  and  teaching  with  some 
alien  purpose  in  view,  the  procedure  has  nothing  whatever  to  commend  it. 

Of  the  total  annual  enrolment  in  the  normal  schools,  half  of  the  men  and  three- 
fifths  of  the  women  had  already  taught.1  Of  the  collegiate  group,  two-thirds  were 
teachers,  while  of  the  secondary  students,  two-fifths  of  the  men  and  over  half  of  the 
women  had  had  teaching  experience.  It  is  encouraging,  however,  to  note  that  during 
the  regular  session  the  conditions  are  better.  Leaving  out  the  summer  session,  only 
two-fifths  of  the  students  have  had  teaching  experience,  and  the  proportion  is  greatest, 
naturally,  in  the  collegiate  group,  where  it  is  nearly  one-half;  among  the  secondary 
students  the  proportion  dwindles  to  less  than  one-third.  For  three  of  the  schools2  it 
was  possible  to  discover  the  nature  of  this  experience.  Rural  school  teaching  predom- 
inates, as  one  would  expect;  about  one-seventh  of  those  in  the  collegiate  group  who 
have  taught,  lacked  rural  experience,  and  practically  all  teachers  among  the  second- 
ary group  have  been  rural  teachers,  tho  a  quarter  of  them  have  had  some  grade  work 

1  See  page  483.          a  Kirksville,  Warrensburg,  and  Maryville. 


PERSONNEL  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

also.  One-fourth  of  the  college  students  have  done  both  rural  and  grade  work,  and 
about  one-tenth  have  done  some  high  school  work.  The  collegiate  women  had  been 
teachers  only;  but  about  two  per  cent  of  the  collegiate  men  had  been  superintendents 
and  three  per  cent  had  been  principals.  In  length  of  experience,  the  summer  session 
group  shows  a  median  of  twenty-one  months  as  compared  with  sixteen  months  among 
regular  session  students  who  have  taught. 

These  facts  reveal  the  presence  during  the  regular  session  of  a  majority  of  students 
who  are  making  their  education  continuous;  and  show  that  an  evolution  from  the  earlier 
conditions  is  in  progress,  tho  still  far  from  complete.  There  would  accordingly  appear 
to  be  good  reason  why  the  schools  should  establish  thoroughly  organized  curricula  for 
students  who  are  expected  to  remain  and  complete  the  course  consecutively,  and  for 
those  only, — a  suggestion  more  fully  elaborated  elsewhere.1  Provision  of  another  sort 
would  be  made  for  those  experienced  teachers  who  attend  chiefly  in  the  summer. 

IMMEDIATE  INTENTIONS  OF  STUDENTS 

The  intention  with  which  students  come  to  the  normal  schools  was  sought  by 
direct  questions  to  the  students  in  attendance  when  the  schools  were  visited.  Replies 
as  to  intention  to  teach  permanently  have  an  important  bearing  upon  certain  ad- 
ministrative situations,,  and  are  discussed  elsewhere.2  Intentions  as  to  teaching  im- 
mediately on  leaving  the  school  were  stated  by  all  but  six  per  cent  of  twenty-four 
hundred  students,  tho  with  much  variation  between  the  schools.  Three-quarters  of 
the  men  and  nine-tenths  of  the  women  intend  to  teach,  but  here  again  wide  differ- 
ences appear.  Nearly  half  of  the  secondary  men  reporting  at  Mary  ville  will  not  teach, 
while  at  Springfield  only  one-seventh  so  reported.  The  women  are  in  every  case  more 
generally  committed  to  teaching  than  the  men,  tho  less  so  at  Mary  ville  and  JCirksville. 
Questions  as  to  alternative  occupations  put  to  those  not  intending  to  teach  show  that 
not  far  from  half  both  of  men  and  women  hope  to  go  elsewhere  to  study;  nearly  one- 
third  of  the  men  will  farm ;  the  remainder  indicate  several  different  occupations. 

STUDY  ELSEWHERE 

Questions  as  to  intentions  for  further  study  disclose  the  extent  of  the  influence  of 
various  institutions.  About  two-fifths  of  the  collegiate  men  students  and  one-tenth  of 
the  secondary  group  are  bound  for  some  college  or  university.  Over  half  of  the  men 
making  this  declaration  name  the  University  of  Missouri;  about  one-third  are  unde- 
cided, and  one-sixth  prefer  outside  institutions.  Two-fifths  of  the  women  expressing 
the  intention  to  go  to  college  incline  to  the  University  of  Missouri,  but  more  than 
one-quarter  of  them  are  going  to  Chicago,  Columbia,  or  Wisconsin.  Missouri  insti- 
tutions other  than  the  state  university  interest  about  one  per  cent  of  the  collegiate 
students  in  the  normal  schools  who  plan  to  do  college  work  elsewhere. 

1  See  pages  301  ff.          *  See  page  298. 


STUDENTS  1S6 

STUDENTS  AT  HARRIS  TEACHERS  COLLEGE 

The  women  studying  at  the  Harris  Teachers  College  ranged  in  age  from  seventeen 
to  thirty-eight,  but  only  eight  per  cent  were  over  twenty-one;  three-fourths  were 
from  eighteen  to  twenty.  It  is  a  town-bred  group;  only  seven  per  cent  grew  up  in 
the  country.  Over  four-fifths  were  natives  of  Missouri,  and  all  but  four  had  their 
homes  in  St.  Louis.  Nearly  two-thirds  were  of  American  stock;  a  few  were  of  Ger- 
man and  one  of  English  parentage,  and  about  thirty  per  cent  were  mixtures  of  these 
and  other  nationalities. 

The  fathers  of  these  students  were  city  workers;  more  than  one-third  were  engaged 
in  trade,  one-fourth  in  manufacture  and  mechanical  industries,  nearly  one-tenth  in 
clerical  occupations,  and  the  same  in  various  professions.  Transportation  and  public 
service  each  engaged  four  per  cent.  In  ten  per  cent  of  the  cases  the  father  was  not 
living.  The  paternal  income  was  generally  given :  fourteen  hundred  sixty  dollars  was 
the  median  figure;  one-fifth  received  one  thousand  or  less,  and  one-fourth  over  two 
thousand.  The  total  family  income  was  consistently  higher  throughout,  with  a  me- 
dian of  seventeen  hundred  fifty  dollars.  In  point  of  size  the  median  family  had  four 
children;  one-tenth  had  only  one  child,  and  one-fifth  had  more  than  five  children; 
over  one-tenth  had  eight  or  more. 

The  home  environment  in  most  cases  was  not  academic.  Only  forty-three  per  cent 
of  the  fathers  and  thirty-nine  per  cent  of  the  mothers  had  attended  a  high  school; 
sixteen  and  nine  per  cent  respectively  had  attended  college,  while  eight  and  twelve 
per  cent  only  had  ever  taught  school*  Altho  the  students  at  the  state  schools  were 
largely  from  families  some  members  of  which  had  taught,  the  reverse  is  true  at  St. 
Louis.  Almost  eighty  per  cent  of  the  families  lacked  any  previous  connections  with 
school  teaching.  The  remainder  with  two  exceptions  had  members  that  had  attended 
a  normal  school,  all  but  one  at  Harris  Teachers  College. 

Nine-tenths  of  the  students  came  up  thru  the  graded  elementary  schools  alone, 
nearly  all  of  them  in  St.  Louis;  the  remaining  tenth  had  attended  likewise  some  rural 
school.  All  but  three  passed  thru  the  St.  Louis  high  schools,  spending  there  four  school 
years  or  more  except  in  one  case. 

Asked  why  they  planned  to  teach,  about  one-third  of  the  students  indicated  finan- 
cial reasons  or  desire  for  an  occupation;  two-thirds  expressed  in  some  form  their  per- 
sonal preference,  inclination,  or  fitness  for  teaching,  or  their  fondness  for  children. 
Almost  the  same  proportion,  three-fifths,  declared  their  intention  to  teach  perma- 
nently. Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  less  than  one-third  indicated  financial  reasons 
for  teaching,  fully  eighty  per  cent  felt  that  teaching  was  the  best-paid  employment 
open  to  them.  Most  of  the  rest  believed  that  other  professional  service  or  some  cleri- 
cal occupation  was  more  remunerative.  Regarding  their  professional  training,  nine 
out  of  ten  students  considered  what  was  asked  of  them  as  more  diiScult  but  also 
more  interesting  than  their  high  school  work;  more  difficult  because  of  a  curriculum 
crowded  with  urgent  and  unfamiliar  exactions,  more  interesting  because  of  "better 


186  PERSONNEL  OE  THE  NOHMAL  SCHOOLS 

teachers,"1  <cmore  individual  responsibility  and  use  of  reason,"  and  "closer  connection 
with  future  work," — "more  vital/'  "more  practical." 

Taken  altogether  these  studen  ts  are  clearly  as  homogeneous  a  group  as  could  easily 
be  assembled  for  their  purpose.  Drawn  from  those  ranking  among  the  upper  two- 
thirds  of  graduates  from  excellent  high  schools,  they  possess  a  fairly  assured  and  tested 
foundation  for  special  training.  No  small  portion  of  their  "immediate  efficiency"  is 
due  to  their  inbred  knowledge  of  the  school  system  thru  which  they  have  come  and 
in  which  they  are  presently  to  teach.  The  vocational  motive  is  probably  somewhat 
more  conscious  than  in  the  state  schools;  at  least  the  students  themselves  have  had 
fewer  family  associations  with  teaching.  Their  even  age,  ability,  and  mental  content 
make  the  task  of  the  college  relatively  simple. 

It  may  be  seriously  questioned  whether  this  homogeneity,  so  favorable  from  many 
points  of  view,  is  not  a  serious  disadvantage  in  important  respects.  Equality  of  age, 
general  high  ability,  and  similar  educational  initiation  is  obviously  desirable;  but 
that  every  teacher  in  the  St.  Louis  elementary  schools  should  have  only  the  provin- 
cial mental  content  of  one  rooted  in  a  single  spot  almost  from  birth  is  not  so  certain. 
In  defence  of  this  system  of  virtually  absolute  inbreeding  it  Is  urged  that  it  is  only 
the  inbreeding  of  ideas  that  is  dangerous,  and  that  as  the  St.  Louis  child  presumably 
has  more  varied  ideas  than  one  bred  in  the  country  or  in  a  small  town,  he  therefore 
possesses  greater  mental  fertility.  This  theory  appears  to  overlook  the  fact  that  the 
mere  number  of  items  within  a  person's  horizon  has  little  to  do  with  his  resourceful- 
ness. The  city  child's  big  buildings,  "flats/9  street  cars,  parades,  and  "movies"  may 
blend  together  into  au  order  of  life  that  taken  by  itself  is  precisely  as  parochial  as 
is  the  experience  of  the  country  boy  for  whom  trees,  animals,  and  open  country  fur- 
nish the  principal  details.  It  is  only  when  one  such  well-understood  order  of  life  is 
imposed  upon  another  that  fresh  mental  combinations  are  liberated  and  true  insight 
is  made  possible.  In  those  who  achieve  distinction,  this  result  is  brought  about  thru 
change  of  residence,  travel,  study,  reading,  pictures.,  and  so  forth.  St.  Louis  now  takes 
persons  whose  minds  already  exactly  mesh  with  the  cogs  of  her  present  system,  and 
seeks  to  develop  new  speeds  and  progressive  attitudes  thru  two  years  of  further 
contact  with  the  same  environment.  It  would  be  better  for  her  schools  if  she  had  at 
her  disposal  a  considerable  number  of  teachers  equally  well  trained,  but  completely 
ignorant  of  the  St.  Louis  regime.  "Immediate  efficiency"  that  rests  on  such  absolute 
habifruation  as  the  present  conditions  ensure,  can  hardly  miss  an  unsound  tendency 
toward  reaction  and  stagnation. 

A  public  sanction  for  the  present  exclusive  arrangement,  that  is  always  present, 
and  that  has  constantly  to  be  combated  by  the  school  authorities,  is  the  theory  that 
Harris  Teachers  College  is  primarily  a  public  vocational  opportunity  for  St.  Louis 
girls.  Much  opposition  to  the  "upper  two-thirds"  rule,  already  referred  to,  has  been 
encountered  on  this  score,  the  best  interests  of  the  schools  for  which  teachers  are 
desired  being  lost  sight  of  in  the  attractive  idea  of  convenient  breadwinning  posi- 


STUDENTS  127 

tions.  A  further  consideration,,  of  course,  is  that  women  living  at  home  may  be  had 
on  terms  lower  than  the  salaries  for  which  teachers  of  equal  training  could  be  in- 
duced to  come  from  outside. 

The  general  situation  at  St.  Louis  confirms  thoroughly  sympathetic  observers  in 
the  belief  that  the  educational  interests  of  the  city  as  well  as  of  the  state  at  large1 
would  ultimately  be  better  served  if  the  Harris  Teachers  College  were  a  state  insti- 
tution, supported  by  general  taxation  but  operated  in  close  connection  with  the  St. 
Louis  city  school  system.  It  should  then  be  open  on  attractive  terms  to  candidates 
from  all  parts  of  the  state,  and  from  among  these  St.  Louis,  or  any  other  Missouri 
city,  could  select  the  best  teachers  it  could  afford  to  pay.  The  training  provided  in 
the  existing  state  schools  is  not  at  present  such  as  St.  Louis  could  profitably  utilize. 
The  time  should  soon  come,  however,  when  this  can  no  longer  be  said;  these  schools 
should  offer  for  the  whole  state  a  thorough,  selective  preparation  suitable  for  a  part, 
at  least,  of  the  staff  in  any  great  city. 

It  is  impossible  to  close  this  section  without  an  expression  of  appreciation  of  the 
character  of  the  student  body  of  the  normal  schools.  In  or  out  of  the  classroom, 
whether  in  conversation  or  unconscious  of  the  observer,  these  boys  and  girls  pro- 
duced the  impression  of  unlimited  industry  and  a  consuming  purpose.  Much  of  this, 
perhaps,  is  the  result  of  sheer  vocational  impulse;  certificates  must  be  earned  and 
maintained.  But  the  larger  significance  of  their  opportunity  is  seldom  absent,  and 
the  influence  of  individual  teachers  as  well  as,  usually,  the  spirit  of  the  school  as  a 
whole,  continually  emphasizes  it.  It  would  be  difficult  to  propose  a  more  appealing 
or  responsive  task  for  men  and  women  of  intellectual  and  moral  power  than  well-ad- 
ministered professional  relations  with  students  of  this  sort. 


1  See  page  60. 


VII 
CURRICULA  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

A.  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS  IN  THE  CONSTRUCTION  OF  CURRICULA  FOR  THE  PREPARATION 

OF  TEACHERS 

CONDITIONS  in  Missouri  suggest  several  fundamental  questions  relating  to  the  prin- 
ciples and  policies  of  curriculum  organization  for  institutions  that  prepare  teachers. 
Particularly  significant  are  the  questions  relating  to:  1.  Standards  of  admission; 
2.  Residence  requirements;  3.  Prescription  versus  election;  and  4,  The  extent  and 
criteria  of  curriculum  differentiation. 


1.  Standards  of  Admission 
PROFESSIONAL  SUBJECT-MATTER  WELL  DEVELOPED 

Among  the  factors  that  determine  the  length  and  content  of  a  teacher's  initial  pre- 
paration, two  are  essential :  the  first  is  the  extent  to  which  the  resources  necessary  for 
good  teaching  have  been  organized  into  disciplines  that  generate  or  promote  the  power 
to  teach;  the  second  is  the  extent  to  which  society  is  willing  to  expend  money  in 
securing  the  advantage  of  these  disciplines  for  the  teachers  of  its  children. 

Fortunately  there  is  no  question  as  to  the  extent  to  which  profitable  subject-matter 
is  available.  Education  is  an  old  field  in  its  philosophic  aspects,  and  the  scientific 
studies  of  the  past  twenty  years  have  supplied  a  wealth  of  material  concerning  its 
resources,  nature,  and  processes  that  has  gone  far  toward  its  firm  establishment  on 
a  scientific  basis.  For  any  grade  of  teaching  the  construction  of  a  four-year  professional 
curriculum  is  at  best  a  difficult  process  of  selection  among  apparently  indispensable 
studies  and  experiences.  To  compass  this  in  two  years  can  be  accomplished  only  by 
the  frank  sacrifice  of  matter  of  unquestionable  importance  and  the  reduction  of  what 
is  retained  to  abbreviated  summaries.  The  worth  even  of  this  training  is  amply  proved, 
however,  by  the  experience  of  schools  everywhere  accessible.  Specific  training  was 
adopted  first  in  large  cities,  and  from  there  has  been  carried  over  to  the  smaller  com- 
munities. Nowhere  has  a  community,  progressive  in  other  respects,  diminished  the 
professional  preparation  given  its  school  teachers.  The  education  of  the  teacher  has 
measured  the  quality  of  the  school,  and  that  in  turn  has  been  an  almost  unfailing 
index  of  the  quality  of  the  community.  Everywhere  the  natural  pressure  and  demand 
on  the  part  of  those  responsible  for  education  is  for  more  and  better  preparation  and 
not  for  less.  This  would  not  be  the  case  if  the  training  had  failed  to  show  good  results. 
The  consensus  of  intelligent  opinion  is  that  it  does  show  good  results,  and,  further, 
that  in  so  far  as  the  educative  procedure  appears  defective,  it  is  largely  some  defi- 
ciency in  the  character  and  amount  of  the  preparation  of  the  teacher  that  is  respon- 
sible. 


STANDARDS  OF  ADMISSION  139 

CHIEF  QUESTION  is  ONE  OF  PURCHASE  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  TRAINING 

It  is  not  a  question,  therefore,  of  the  existence  of  effective  tools,  skill,  and  know- 
ledge wherewith  teachers  can  be  equipped.  It  is  a  question  simply  whether  the  state 
as  a  whole  will  deny  modern  educational  advantages  to  certain  groups  of  its  youth 
while  they  are  enjoyed  by  other  groups.  St.  Louis  has  had  a  large  number  of  profes- 
sionally trained  teachers  for  many  years,  and  recent  tests  of  her  public  school  system 
reveal  the  admirable  quality  of  the  results.  She  would  prefer  to  pay  twice  their  cost 
rather  than  revert  to  former  conditions.  Kansas  City  has  more  recently  adopted  the 
same  policy.  Educated  elementary  teachers  are  scattered  thru  other  towns  and  cities  in 
varying  numbers,  but  outside  of  a  few  large  towns  the  elementary  schools  are  in  gen- 
eral conducted  by  partially  trained,  or  locally  trained,  or  wholly  untrained  teachers, 
who  are  correspondingly  inefficient.  To  be  more  exact,  the  conditions  are  as  follows: 
Teachers  of  elementary  schools  with  two  or  more  years  of  professional  preparation  in 
advance  of  a  high  school  curriculum  constitute  forty-one  per  cent  of  the  total  in  St. 
Louis,  twenty-three  per  cent  in  Kansas  City,  sixteen  per  cent  in  the  smaller  urban 
districts  of  the  state,  and  a  negligible  proportion  in  the  rural  districts.  These  figures 
do  not  fully  represent  the  case,  however,  for  St.  Louis,  during  recent  years,  has  added 
well-trained  teachers  only,  while  the  state  at  large  is  making  no  such  progress. 

For  this  situation  there  is  no  justification ;  it  is  a  case  of  ample  funds  for  well-pre- 
pared teachers  in  some  quarters  and  meagre  funds  for  poorly  prepared  teachers  in 
others.  The  needs  of  the  child  in  the  small  town  or  village  are  as  great  as  those  of  the 
child  in  St.  Louis ;  and  the  needs  of  the  country  lad  are  greater  than  either.  Rural 
school  teaching  actually  demands  a  higher  grade  of  teaching  efficiency  than  any 
other  branch  of  public  school  service:  the  problems  of  successful  organization  and 
instruction  are  more  varied  and  more  difficult;  the  range  of  subject-matter  in  which 
the  teacher  should  be  "letter  perfect"  is  wider;  supervision  is  less  frequent  and  usually 
less  competent;  and  the  responsibilities  of  the  teacher  for  community  leadership  are 
much  heavier.  To  meet  these  demands,  teachers  can  be  had ;  excellent  training  is  avail- 
able ;  the  money  cost  is  relatively  unimportant  to  a  wealthy  state  like  Missouri ;  the 
only  thing  really  lacking  is  the  determination  on  the  part  of  the  state  to  give  every 
child,  wherever  he  may  be,  opportunities  equal  to  those  enjoyed  in  the  centres  of  pop- 
ulation that  have  developed  a  keener  sense  of  responsibility  than  the  state  as  a  whole 
has  felt  for  itself. 

MISSOURI  HAS  TEMPORIZED  WITH  COMPROMISES 

Instead  of  dealing  with  this  problem  in  a  businesslike  and  thoroughgoing  manner, 
Missouri,  like  many  other  states,  has  temporized  with  a  series  of  compromises, 
alleging  that  the  more  vigorous  program  was  " impracticable."  She  has  prided  herself 
on  legislation  providing  that  by  1918  no  person  with  less  than  a  high  school  educa- 
tion receive  high  grade  licenses,  whereas  such  a  limit  is  at  best  but  a  reasonable  mini- 
mum for  admission  to  training ;  and  even  this  requirement  is  nullified  to  a  considerable 


130  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

degree  by  retaining  the  old  third  grade  certificate  intact  for  teachers  with  scarcely 
more  than  elementary  schooling.  In  order  to  make  high  school  graduates  into  teachers, 
the  familiar  expedient  has  been  resorted  to  of  giving  them  certain  secondary  courses  at 
the  hands  of  a  special  teacher,  and  a  small  appropriation,  is  being  annually  devoted  to 
this  purpose.  The  establishment  of  these  secondary  agencies  for  the  training  of teach- 
ers, while  doubtless  productive  of  good  in  many  backward  districts,  has  occasionally 
had  a  distinctly  unfoi'tunate  effect.  The  graduates  of  the  high  school  training  classes, 
usually  town  or  city  girls,  have  revealed  the  same  unwillingness  to  enter  the  rural 
school  service  as  have  graduates  of  the  state  normal  schools,  and  the  pressure  for  the 
appointment  of  such  graduates  to  positions  in  the  home  town  and  city  systems  where 
high  school  training  classes  have  been  organized  is  sometimes  too  insistent  for  the 
school  authorities  to  resist  successfully.  This  weakness  can  probably  be  improved  by 
more  skilful  regulation,  especially  by  recruiting  country  boys  and  girls  for  this  work, 
but  the  only  final  solution  is  to  place  the  preparation  and  the  rewards  for  teaching  in 
the  rural  schools  on  a  level  with,  conditions  in  any  other  group,  or  if  necessary  to 
grant  an  additional  bonus  to  such  teachers.1 

AN  ADEQUATE  POLICY  NEEDED 

In  view  of  the  whole  situation  it  should  be  determined  that  admittedly  low  grade 
curricula  shall  not  be  tolerated  longer  than  is  necessary  to  remedy  even  more  fun- 
damental defects.  States  as  widely  different  in  the  characteristics  of  their  rural  life  as 
Massachusetts  and  California  have  succeeded  in  making  high  school  graduation  a  pre- 
requisite for  admission  to  rural  school  training  curricula,  and  Missouri  can  do  the 
same.  A  persistent  campaign  for  a  larger  and  more  skilfully  distributed  state  school 
fund  in  such  rich  and  prosperous  states  as  Illinois,  Iowa,  Kansas,  and  Missouri,  coupled 
with  renewed  and  redoubled  efforts  to  establish  the  principles  of  consolidation  wher- 
ever consolidated  schools  are  possible,  should  speedily  render  unnecessary  the  effort 
to  provide  professional  preparation  on  the  secondary  level.  The  high  school  training 
classes  have  rendered  an  important  service,  but  to  consider  them  as  a  satisfactory  and 
permanent  solution  of  the  problem  would  be  to  perpetuate  a  standard  of  preparation 
utterly  inconsistent  with  the  fundamental  significance  of  rural  education  to  the  pros- 
perity and  welfare  of  the  nation. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  of  course,  that  a  standard  prerequisite  for  professional 
training  implies  a  required  training  beyond  that  prerequisite.  To  set  this  fact  in  clear 
relief  as  well  as  to  increase  the  emphasis  upon  the  preparatory  as  distinct  from  the  pro- 
fessional institution,  it  would  undoubtedly  be  of  great  advantage  completely  to  sever 
the  two  kinds  of  work,  and  to  confine  the  normal  schools  strictly  to  higher  profes- 
sional instruction.  As  explained  elsewhere,2  this  appears  to  be  practicable  in  Missouri 
and  should  be  carried  out. 

1  This  expedient  has  been  tried  successfully  in  Baltimore  County,  Maryland. 
a  See  pagres  166, 295,  SCO. 


RESIDENCE  REQUIREMENTS  131 

SHOULD  PREPARATORY  CURRICULA  BE  PRESCRIBED? 

Assuming  that  the  standard  professional  curriculum  will  require  a  measure  of 
preparation  equivalent  at  least  to  graduation  from  a  four-year  high  school,  the  ques- 
tion arises :  Shall  the  character  of  the  preparatory  curriculum  be  more  specifically  pre- 
scribed ?  There  would,  indeed,  be  many  advantages  in  making  requirements  that  would 
enable  the  normal  schools  and  teachers  colleges  to  omit  from  their  professional  cur- 
ricula a  number  of  purely  academic  subjects.  On  the  other  hand,  definite  prescriptions 
of  courses  that  must  be  completed  prior  to  entrance  might  necessitate  an  early  voca- 
tional choice  upon  the  part  of  the  high  school  pupils,  and  thus,  in  effect,  make  the 
high  school  curriculum  preparatory  to  normal  school  entrance  essentially  vocational. 
This  would  certainly  be  the  case  if  the  subjects  taught  in  elementary  schools  were 
prescribed  as  part  of  the  entrance  requirements, — a  policy  that  has  been  proposed  on 
the  ground  that  it  would  free  the  normal  school  from  the  necessity  of  offering  review- 
courses.  In  the  mutual  interests  of  both  high  school  and  normal  school,  as  well  as  in 
justice  to  the  secondary  pupil,  it  is  believed  that  the  best  preparation  for  the  profes- 
sional work  of  the  normal  school  or  of  the  teachers  college  would  be  a  well-chosen  pro- 
gram of  general  secondary  studies  rather  than  a  specific  and  essentially  vocational  cur- 
riculum. From  this  point  of  view,  there  could  be  no  objection  to  specifying  among  the 
admission  requirements  the  satisfactory  completion  of  certain  courses  characteristic  of 
a  liberal  education :  mathematics,  one  or  more  of  the  natural  sciences,  twoor  more  units 
of  history,  and  perhaps  four  units  of  English;  but  to  specify  spelling,  arithmetic,  or 
other  elementary  subjects  would  be  to  substitute  their  inferior  treatment  on  a  second- 
ary level  for  serious  professional  attention  later  on.  Furthermore,  with  a  period  of  pro- 
fessional work  in  view,  it  is  clearly  unwise  to  force  a  vocational  choice  before  the  com- 
pletion of  secondary  education.  The  problem  of  taking  care  of  the  necessary  "reviews" 
of  the  common  branches  in  curricula  of  collegiate  grade  will  be  discussed  later.1 

While  there  are  some  who  consider  four  years  of  secondary  study  as  an  unattain- 
able prerequisite  for  professional  work,  there  are  a  few  who  would  increase  this  require- 
ment by  adding  two  years  of  general  college  education  as  the  basis  of  admission  to 
the  professional  curricula.  This  proposal  is  so  closely  involved  with  considerations 
affecting  the  nature  of  the  professional  curricula  themselves  that  it  seems  appropri- 
ate to  defer  discussion  of  it  to  another  publication,2 


2,  Residence 

Two  years  of  resident  study  at  a  training  institution  seem  for  the  present  to  be  a 
reasonable  minimum  for  the  preparation  of  all  grades  of  elementary  teachers,  and 
should  be  systematically  enforced  by  suitable  certification.  This,  however,  is  but  the 

1  See  pages  149  f.,  227. 

2  The  Foundation  has  in  progress  a  revision  of  its  suggested  Curricula  for  the  Professional  Training  of  Teachers 
in  American  Public  Schools,  in  which  this  problem  will  he  fully  discussed. 


182  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

beginning  of  a  real  solution  of  the  problem  of  elementary  instruction  in  Missouri, 
as  in  the  United  States  as  a  whole.  To  meet  the  situation  in  fully  adequate  fashion, 
two  fundamental  demands  must  be  satisfied:  first,  the  school-going  youth  of  the  coun- 
try must  be  provided  with  teachers  selected  for  their  natural  fitness  and  in  confident 
possession  of  such  knowledge  and  skill  as  our  best  training  can  supply;  and  secondly, 
the  service  of  such  teachers  must  be  prolonged  to  the  point  where,  as  in  other  pro- 
fessions, the  accumulated  power  of  successful  experience  may  accrue  to  the  permanent 
advancement  of  the  cause  they  serve. 

a.  PROLONGED  PREPARATION  NEEDED  FOR  TEACHERS  OF  ALL  GRADES  ALIKE 

In  planning  a  program  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  America  one  must  be 
aware  that  all  the  hopes  and  ideals  of  our  democratic  society  itself  are  bound  up  in  the 
eventual  result.  If  the  supreme  service  of  one  generation  to  the  next  is  to  place  it  most 
advantageously  upon  the  stage,  that  service  can  be  concentrated  and  ensured  nowhere 
so  effectively  as  in  the  selection  and  preparation  of  the  teachers  to  whom  chiefly  the 
task  is  delegated.  Indeed,  so  far  as  education  thru  schools  is  concerned,  the  teacher  is 
the  sole  channel  of  influence.  It  requires  no  argument,  therefore,  to  convince  a  thought- 
ful American  that  any  process  that  renders  his  agents  who  deal  with  oncoming  youth 
conspicuously  more  successful  in  bringing  to  pass  the  ambitions  of  the  present  for  the 
future,  is  a  paramount  consideration. 

Such  a  process  is  emphatically  the  progressive  education  of  a  teacher  in  the  content 
and  significance  of  the  social  order  that  he  is  passing  on  for  reproduction  or  better- 
ment; such  is  likewise  his  refinement  in  knowledge  of  the  physical  and  mental  makeup 
of  the  child  he  teaches ;  such  is  certainly  his  observant  study  of  skilled  teachers  and 
his  own  initiation  under  their  leadership.  As  already  pointed  out,  the  sanction  for  all 
of  this  has  been  fully  confirmed  in  the  action  of  progressive  communities  everywhere. 
There  is  no  longer  any  question  of  requiring  that  teachers  be  prepared;  the  really 
important  question  now  pressing  for  answer  is  the  question  of  the  extent  and  appli- 
cation of  this  preparation  among  teachers  of  different  grades  or  groups  of  children. 

WHY  LONGER  TRAINING  FOR  HIGH  SCHOOL  TEACHING? 

The  best  approach  to  a  consideration  of  this  problem  may  perhaps  be  made  bv 
facing  frankly  at  once  the  concrete  issue  which  throws  it  into  high  relief.  An  accept- 
able teacher  in  the  ninth,  tenth,  eleventh,  and  twelfth  grades  of  our  public  school 
system  must  have  had  four  years  of  college  training  supplemented  in  the  better  insti- 
tutions by  a  year  or  more  of  graduate  work  devoted  to  education  and  to  the  partic- 
ular subjects  to  be  taught.  But  from  the  first  grade  to  the  eighth  inclusive  a  teacher 
with  a  normal  school  training  of  two  years  beyond  the  high  school  is  officially  sat- 
isfactory. What  are  the  grounds  for  this  remarkable  distinction  occurring  sharply 
at  the  end  of  the  eighth  grade?  In  the  order  of  their  increasing  probability  the  follow- 
ing explanations  suggest  themselves. 


RESIDENCE  REQUIREMENTS  133 

It  is  said  that  a  longer  and  therefore  presumably  better  training  has  been  demanded 
for  the  teachers  of  the  highest  grades  because  there  were  fewer  of  them,  and  a  more 
rigid  selection  was  therefore  possible  and  natural.  There  appears  to  be  no  valid  reason 
for  believing  that  this  is  true.  Secondary  teachers  are  indeed  relatively  fewer  than 
elementary  teachers  because  the  number  of  secondary  pupils  has  been  and  is  propor- 
tionately smaller,  but  if  the  inference  of  better  training  were  correct,  it  would  hold 
good  also  as  between  eighth  grade  teachers  and  primary  teachers  where  the  same 
relative  disparity  in  numbers  exists.  It  might  be  sought  for  the  same  reason  between 
teachers  in  the  twelfth  and  those  in  the  ninth  grades,  even  in  spite  of  the  depart- 
mental character  of  this  work.  No  such  distinction  in  length  of  training  is  to  be 
found  at  these  other  points.  In  fact,  the  training  of  the  primary  teacher  is  the  one 
phase  of  preparation  for  elementary  instruction  that  has  been  clearly  differentiated 
from  all  others  and  given  special  emphasis.  Plausible  as  the  suggested  distinction  may 
appear  at  first  glance,  there  seems  to  be  no  good  reason  why  a  group  of  public  servants 
should  be  better  prepared  for  its  work  simply  because  the  group  is  small,  tho  that 
fact  may  of  course  facilitate  selection  occurring  for  other  reasons. 

Is  HIGH  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION  MORE  "ADVANCED"? 

A  second  suggestion  frequently  offered  as  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  distinction  in 
question  is  that  the  work  of  the  four  higher  grades,  commonly  known  collectively  as 
the  "high  school,"  is  "advanced"  work  and  therefore  requires  the  "advanced"  prepa- 
ration of  a  college  course.  And  it  is  thereby  implied  that  elementary  instruction  is 
"elementary"  work  and  requires  but  "elementary"  preparation  or  perhaps  only  "or- 
dinary common  sense."  Historically  there  is  much  truth  in  this  explanation.  For  along 
period  high  school  teaching  could  be  prepared  for  only  in  college,  while  no  college 
concerned  itself  seriously  either  with  the  studies  or  with  the  pupils  of  the  elementary 
school.  As  the  normal  schools  gradually  made  good  their  function,  the  studies  and 
pupils  of  the  elementary  school  became  the  centre  of  their  attention.  Partly  for  this 
reason  and  partly  because  the  colossal  size  and  strangeness  of  the  new  problem  led 
many  normal  schools  into  obviously  superficial  and  futile  practices,  the  whole  move- 
ment was  ignored  and  often  actively  misunderstood  by  the  colleges ;  even  to-day  many 
college  teachers  and  officers  are  uninformed  as  to  its  achievement  and  unimpressed  by 
its  real  significance. 

The  work  of  the  normal  schools,  extended  and  systematized  by  university  and 
college  departments  of  education,  has  brought  into  being  a  type  of  preparation  fully 
as  indispensable  to  the  elementary  teacher  and  to  society  as  a  college  course  can  pos- 
sibly be  to  the  high  school  instructor.  The  work  of  one  has  become  as  "advanced" 
as  that  of  the  other,  tho  it  deals  with  different  materials.  Compared  with  the  sec- 
ondary teacher,  whose  field  is  narrowly  limited,  the  competent  lower  grade  instructor 
must  possess  a  sure  mastery  in  a  relatively  wide  range  of  subjects, — a  mastery  that 
the  present  brief  training  restricts  almost  to  the  bare  material  to  be  taught.  The  tech- 


134  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING-  PROBLEMS 

nical  difficulties  of  teaching  and  of  class  management  appreciably  increase  in  passing 
from  the  higher  to  the  middle  levels  of  public  school  instruction;  the  equipment  of  the 
elementary  teacher  in  skilful  technique  must  therefore  be  correspondingly  greater. 
In  contrast  with  the  strong  natural  sympathy  existing  between  the  well-chosen  adult 
teacher  and  the  mature  or  adolescent  youth,  a  teacher  of  younger  children  finds  a 
competent  knowledge  of  his  pupils  and  a  permanent  interest  in  them  to  be  a  more 
remote  and  more  difficult  acquisition  that  must  be  sustained,  if  at  all,  by  motives  im- 
plying a  large  social  horizon  and  purpose.  The  lack  of  this,  due  to  insufficient  edu- 
cation, is  precisely  the  secret  of  the  mechanical  and  commonplace  older  "grade" 
teacher,  familiar  to  every  observer. 

In  the  lower  grades — primary  and  lower  intermediate — the  problems  of  manage- 
ment recede  in  importance,  or  are  at  least  less  obtrusive,  thus  giving  color  to  the  pop- 
ular idea  that  the  teacher's  task  is  simpler.  Here  the  real  need  of  skill  in  teaching  and 
especially  of  trained  insight  into  the  mental  differences  of  growing  children  stands  out 
in  all  its  significance.  School  systems  in  general  have  been  organized  to  fit  their  weak- 
est point,  which  is  in  the  intermediate  grades.  Teachers  that  are  inefficiently  or  me- 
chanically trained  make  necessary  the  rigid  curriculum  with  its  allotted  pages,  iden- 
tical for  each  of  many  varied  minds;  the  mechanical  supervision  laid  on  firmly  from 
without  is  inevitable,  and  the  result  is  the  dead  average  of  mass-progress.  To  be  able 
to  treat  third  grade  children  intelligently  as  individuals,  and  to  be  safely  entrusted 
with  the  adaptation  of  educational  materials  to  their  varying  capacities,  requires  an 
ability  that  may  be  had  thru  education,  but  that  to-day  scarcely  exists  in  these  lower 
grades,  and  is  rarely  to  be  found  in  the  elementary  school  at  all.  Because  bright 
children  can  run  unschooled  until  the  age  of  ten  or  twelve  and  then  be  "brought  up" 
to  their  classes  without  great  loss  of  time,  it  is  argued  that,  after  all,  the  early  grades 
are  unnecessary  except  for  the  average  or  dull  pupil.  This  is  an  undoubted  fact,  but 
by  another  inference  the  whole  evil  situation  is  contained  in  the  irony  of  it.  It  is  non- 
sense to  suppose  that  under  good  conditions  a  teacher  who  knew  her  business  could  not 
have  given  the  bright  child  the  lead  that  his  capacity  warranted.  With  apparently 
little  formal  effort,  the  educated  and  sympathetic  parent  brings  him  along  so  fast  that 
he  is  obliged  to  stay  out  until  the  lock-step  of  the  school  catches  up.  The  relatively 
unskilled  teacher  of  to-day,  with  the  best  of  intentions,  wastes  the  capable  child's  time 
precisely  because  the  real  nature  of  her  business  is  still  a  riddle  to  her,  and  what  in- 
sight she  may  have  bears  slight  fruit  because  of  a  system  organized  to  operate  irrespec- 
tive of  insight  on  her  part.  So  far  as  the  work  itself  is  concerned,  therefore,  it  must 
be  contended  that  there  is  no  longer  any  teaching  position  in  the  list  for  which  "  ad- 
vanced" preparation  may  justly  and  profitably  be  denied  in  favor  of  any  other. 

SOCIAL  DISTINCTIONS  IMPLIED  BETWEEN  ELEMENTARY  AND  HIGH  SCHOOLS 

A  third  ground  for  the  traditional  distinction  in  the  training  of  high  school  teach- 
ers is  rather  more  difficult  of  analysis,  and  is  much  less  freely  recognized  than  the  one 


RESIDENCE  REQUIREMENTS  135 

just  discussed.  After  its  inception  the  modern  high  school  quickly  became,  like  its 
predecessor  the  academy,  the  special  protege  of  the  institution  next  above  it.  Where 
high  schools  did  not  exist,  preparatory  departments  in  the  college  itself  took  their 
place,  as  in  the  University  of  Missouri  and  other  Missouri  colleges.  The  early  status 
of  the  high  school,  then,  was  that  of  an  institution  suspended  from  the  college  in 
the  darkness  beneath;  not  until  it  became  full-formed  and  established  did  it  tend 
to  build  itself  up  out  of  a  vigorous  common  school  pressure  from  below,  and  even  so, 
up  nearly  to  the  present  day,  it  has  clung  to  the  college  for  sanction  of  its  aims, 
methods,  and  program.  The  inevitable  result  of  this  intimate  relationship  was  that  the 
high  school  was  regarded  and  in  fact  became,  like  the  college,  the  institution  for  the 
education  of  children  from  relatively  wealthy  and  cultured  social  groups.  The  public 
character  of  the  school  considerably  enlarged  the  circle,  to  be  sure,  but  only  those 
could  attend  who,  tho  perhaps  not  destined  for  college,  were  at  least  able  to  command 
the  necessary  leisure  and  support  for  study  during  four  years  above  the  elementary 
school.  The  impulse  to  provide  this,  even  at  a  sacrifice,  was  found  chiefly  in  homes  of 
considerable  refinement  until  the  high  school  added  a  form  of  training  that  met  a 
purely  vocational  need  and  appealed  to  a  different  type  of  parent. 

Thus  grew  the  tradition  of  a  public  school,  proudly  alleged  to  be  for  all,  but  actu- 
ally patronized  by  the  wealthier  and  better  educated  elements  in  American  life,  and 
playing  but  a  slight  part  in  the  existence  of  the  great  majority  of  the  people.  For 
these  the  "common"  school  did  service*  Often  shunned  in  the  largest  cities,  tho  less 
so  where  the  population  was  more  homogeneous,  this  outpost  of  civilized  life  has  been 
alternately  the  hope  and  the  despair  of  all  who  trusted  in  it  as  the  means  for  attain- 
ing true  democracy.  With  splendid  ideals  and  obvious  possibilities,  by  resting  heavily 
on  the  power  of  its  traditional  appeal,  this  often  crude  and  awkward  servant  of  the 
state  has  accomplished  on  the  whole  an  important  service  in  spite  of  the  wooden  sys- 
tem in  which  it  is  sometimes  wedged,  its  often  thoroughly  mechanical  processes,  and 
its  subjection  to  the  constant  interference  of  the  incompetent.  Its  worth  has  been 
almost  wholly  positive;  its  failure,  tho  apparent,  has  been  a  failure  in  degree  only, 

THE  ELEMENTARY  TEACHEII  versus  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  TEACHER 

The  two  institutions — high  school  and  "common4"  school — are  completely  revealed 
in  their  teachers.  Beginning  abruptly  with  the  ninth  grade,  where  compulsory  educa- 
tion commonly  ceases,  the  teachers  must  be  college  graduates  and  therefore  suppos- 
edly well  initiated  into  the  world  of  letters  and  culture.  It  has  not  till  lately  been 
thought  to  matter  much  whether  the  teacher  was  prepared  to  teach;  it  sufficed  if  he 
held  a  diploma.  Most  older  secondary  teachers  are  painfully  aware  that  their  profes- 
sional training  began  when,  they  commenced  to  teach ;  they  may  even  be  proud  of  the 
various  subjects  that  they  suddenly  "worked  up"  out  of  a  forgotten  or  wholly  vacant 
past.  Nevertheless,  the  teachers  in  our  high  schools  and  academies  have  been  men  and 
women  more  or  less  at  home  in  the  best  intellectual  life  of  their  generation.  Their 


136  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

varied  studies,  their  college  associates,  their  institutional  and  social  experiences  have 
made  them  in  a  small  way  people  of  "  affairs,*" — literary,  political,  social,  and  even 
commercial, — representing  interests  to  which  the  high  school  student  ardently  as- 
pires. They  may  blunder  egregiously  in  teaching,  but  even  the  blunderers  possess  usu- 
ally something  in  their  personal  background  that  saves  them  from  total  failure.  The 
stronger  schools  require  evidence  of  successful  experience  in  their  teachers,  and  the 
tendency  of  recent  regulations  has  been  to  require  specific  preparation  for  specific 
positions,  and  still  more  recently  to  require  graduate  study  and  directed  practice 
work.  The  service  offers,  in  its  better  positions,  an  agreeable  and  respected  career  in 
close  contact  with  collegiate  interests.  Such  are  the  teachers  who  deal  with  the  selected 
youth  from  the  better  American  homes. 

Below  the  ninth  grade  attendance  is  commonly  compulsory  for  all  children  for 
whom  no  other  provision  is  made.  Teachers  for  these  grades  are  recruited  from  high 
school  graduates  who  are  given  at  most  something  over  a  year  of  specific  preparation 
for  teaching  the  elementary  school  subjects — followed  by  a  period  of  supervised  prac- 
tice in  the  schools.  Sometimes  the  latter  is  concurrent  with  study  or  interwoven  with 
it,  both  requiring  not  more  than  two  years  in  all.  Married  women  are  not  desired  in 
the  service;  since  nearly  all  elementary  school  teachers  are  women,  the  average  tenure 
of  these  teachers,  trained  and  untrained,  is  about  four  years.1  The  conditions  of  the  ser- 
vice are  exacting;  the  hours  are  long,  the  constant  contact  with  all  types  of  childhood 
is  very  trying  to  any  but  the  soundest  nerves,  the  extra  demands  upon  a  teacher's 
time  and  energy  for  both  school  and  pupil  are  incessant,  and  the  financial  reward  is 
utterly  insignificant.  The  net  result  of  the  circumstances  is  that  the  majority  of  the 
teachers  in  these  grades  seek  the  work  solely  from  an  economic  motive,  expecting  or 
hoping  that  it  will  be  temporary.  Training  is  given  with  this  in  mind.  From  the  nor- 
mal school"^  standpoint  it  is  concentrated  on  meeting  in  the  shortest  possible  time  cer- 
tain irreducible  minima  in  the  way  of  standards;  from  the  student's  point  of  view  it 
represents  simply  the  condition  of  securing  a  license.  Compared  with  even  two  years  of 
the  four  spent  in  college,  the  intellectual  interests  awakened  are  incidental  and  fugi- 
tive instead  of  central  and  cumulative;  mental  stimuli  received  in  high  school  cease 
for  lack  of  attention.  Instead  of  persisting,  like  Alma  Mater,  a  life-long  shrine  of  high 
thought  and  feeling,  the  training  school,  once  finished,  ceases  to  figure  in  the  teacher's 
thought,  and  his  aspirations  wither,  lacking  sure  attachment.  Whether  a  teacher  for 
three  years  or  thirty,  such  a  brief  and  concentrated  treatment  disposes  one  blindly  to 
reverence  routine,  to  follow  and  to  require  specific  directions,  to  eye  too  carefully  the 
sources  of  approval  or  censure;  in  short,  to  fit  the  system,  and,  worst  of  all,  to  make 
unintelligent  supervision  easy.  If  the  work  becomes  permanent,  the  uncertain  attitude 
of  the  early  years  may  be  thrown  off  and  real  growth  may  result.  If  so,  it  must  still 
spring  by  will  and  brain  from  the  thin  soil  of  scant  initial  training.  The  common 

1  This  average  includes  rural  school  teachers.  The  elementary  teachers  in  the  larger  cities  have  a  longer  average 
"life" — probably  between  eight  and  ten  years. 


RESIDENCE  REQUIREMENTS  137 

alternative  is  to  make  the  prescribed  procedure  automatic  and  to  employ  the  mind 
elsewhere.  Such  is  the  teacher  on  whose  instruction  the  attendance  of  children  thru 
eight  of  the  most  critical  years  of  their  lives  is  expected,  and  in  Missouri,  outside  of 
St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City,  such  a  teacher  receives  annually  for  her  services  a  salary 
of  I450.1 

CONTRAST  IN  TEACHERS  THE  CHIEF  OBSTACLE  TO  PROGRESS 

This  contrast  between  the  teachers  of  a  selected  group  destined  to  furnish  the  lead- 
ers of  society  and  those  provided  for  the  balance  of  the  population  is  naturally  most 
keenly  felt  by  the  teachers  themselves.  The  prestige  of  a  high  school  instructorship 
quite  outranks  that  of  a  "grade"  teacher's  position  in  popular  respect,  and  must,  of 
course,  do  so  until  training  and  compensation  are  equalized  and  the  two  schools  are 
merged  in  a  single  institution.  To  pass  from  an  elementary  school  position  to  the 
high  school,  as  has  been  possible  in  small  country  high  schools,  or  in  city  schools  by 
securing  additional  training,  is  rated  as  promotion  to  the  disparagement  of  the  "in- 
ferior" job.  Educationally  this  situation  constitutes  at  present  perhaps  the  greatest  single 
obstacle  to  progress.  As  long  as  the  situation  requires  that  a  teacher  rise  by  changing 
his  work  instead  of  by  capitalizing  his  experience  and  improving  his  work,  little  genuine 
progress  toward  professional  efficiency  can  be  realized. 

DISTINCTIONS  IN  TRAINING  SHOULD  DISAPPEAR 

The  deductions  to  be  drawn  from  this  brief  review  of  public  school  cleavage  must 
be  fully  apparent.  The  present  conditions  cannot  last  in  a  republic  pledged  to  Ameri- 
can principles.  The  advantages  of  appropriate  adolescent  education  from  the  four- 
teenth to  the  eighteenth  year,  which  are  now  theoretically  open  to  each  child,  must 
actually  be  placed  in  his  possession.  The  same  curriculum  for  all  during  these  years 
is  absurd;  but  an  education  equally  genuine  and  thorough  for  all  alike  and  modified 
only  by  the  proved  abilities  of  the  child  must  be  provided  for  every  boy  and  girl  in 
the  country  thru  their  eighteenth  year,  and  must  be  required  of  them  if  the  United 
States  is  to  face  the  new  world-era  a  fit  and  competent  nation.  This  education  will 
necessarily  assume  many  forms.  The  only  form  that  it  may  not  assume  is  one  that 
permits  the  social  and  financial  status  of  an  undeveloped  youth  to  determine  his 
future.  Thoroughly  exploited  and  completely  discredited  in  Europe,  this  system  will 
yield  here,  where  its  roots  are  weak,  to  an  educational  faith  and  policy  whereby  the 
leadership  that  emerges  shall  be  that  of  sheer  mental,  moral,  and  physical  excellence. 

The  executor  of  this  future  is  the  teacher  and  no  other.  Created  and  supported 
according  to  whatever  vision  prevails,  it  is  he  who  determines  the  result.  In  making 

1  This  is  the  median  annual  salary  of  the  women  teachers  in  graded  elementary  schools  who  have  had  two  or 
more  years  of  training  in  addition  to  four  years  of  high  school.  Such  teachers  number  only  sixteen  per  cent  of  the 
total ;  the  remainder  lack  so  much  training,  but  owing  to  a  certificate  system  that  penalizes  proper  preparation, 
they  receive  nearly  the  same  salary.  The  median  is  exactly  the  same,  but  thirty-five  per  cent  only  of  the  second 
group  receive  more  than  $450  as  compared  with  forty-nine  per  cent  of  the  first  group. 


138  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

secondary  education  compulsory  it  is  obvious  that,  to  accomplish  our  final  purpose^ 
the  best  present  standard  of  training  for  the  secondary  teacher  must  be  maintained — 
that  is,  four  or  five  years  of  organized  and  pertinent  preparation.  It  should  be  equally 
obvious  that  the  problem  of  elementary  instruction  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  solved 
until  the  training  of  elementary  teachers  is  fully  established  upon  a  like  basis.  This 
done,  the  American  system  of  education  becomes  intelligible  and  defensible :  a  twelve- 
year  period  of  growth  and  training  under  superior  conditions  for  every  child,  admin- 
istered by  a  special  class  of  teachers  selected  for  similar  and  representative  character 
and  power,  and  amply  trained  for  their  purpose;  men  and  .women  who  are  permanent 
and  resourceful  students  of  their  work,  seeking  a  possibly  equal  distinction  of  ser- 
vice and  reward  alike  within  all  grades  and  subjects  of  instruction,  and  professionally 
organized  for  the  continued  advancement  of  American  schools. 

Whether  the  accomplishment  of  the  program  outlined  above  is  a  matter  of  ten 
years  or  of  fifty  is  not  our  immediate  concern ;  it  is  necessary,  however,  to  discern 
clearly  the  goal  toward  which  we  ought  to  strive.  Certain  communities,  like  St.  Louis, 
are  already  asking  whether  a  longer  training  for  elementary  teachers  is  not  desirable, 
and  if  so,  what  form  it  shall  take.  New  York  State  is  on  the  eve  of  converting  its 
two-year  normal  school  curriculum  into  a  three-year  curriculum  to  be  required  of  all 
elementary  teachers  in  graded  schools.  Massachusetts,  in  her  state  normal  schools, 
has  organized  three-year  courses  for  upper  grade  elementary  teachers;  Rhode  Island 
is  likewise  upon  a  three-year  basis;  and  scattered  beginnings  of  the  same  sort  are 
observable  elsewhere.  The  feeling  is  general  that,  altho  the  trained  elementary  teach- 
ers are  doing  technically  better  work  than  the  untrained  high  school  teachers,  they 
are  seriously  lacking  in  substantial  education,  and  the  proposed  lengthening  of  the 
curriculum  is  intended  partially  to  remedy  this  defect.  High  school  teachers,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  under  no  such  pressure  to  lengthen  their  preparation  in  point  of  time. 
Progress  for  them  hinges  upon  the  reorganization  of  their  curriculum  for  a  definite 
objective  and  the  provision  of  real  professional  training  comparable  to  that  which  the 
best  elementary  teachers  already  enjoy.  Were  there  apparent  a  clear  tendency  toward 
requiring  additional  years,  toward  making  a  doctor's  degree,  for  example,  a  qualifica- 
tion for  secondary  instruction,  the  inference  would  be  natural  that  the  preparation 
for  secondary  work  was  destined  to  maintain  its  old  relative  advantage.  This  is  not  the 
case.  Even  the  fifth  year  required  of  secondary  teachers  in  California,  in  Rhode  Island 
(for  state  scholarships),  and  in  some  other  communities,  was  added  rather  in  order  to 
secure  professional  training  without  disturbing  the  unity  of  the  college  curriculum 
than  because  a  successful  secondary  teacher  could  not  be  well  prepared  in  four  years,  if 
provided  with  a  curriculum  planned  for  the  purpose.  The  indications  are  rather  that, 
without  prejudice  to  the  secondary  instructor,  the  work  of  his  colleague  in  the  elemen- 
tary school  will  be  regarded  as  of  equal  importance,  specialization  being  relied  upon  to 
provide  for  the  greater  intensiveness  of  the  secondary  teacher's  task,  and  both  candi- 
dates being  required  to  work  out  a  careful  technique  suited  to  their  respective  fields. 


RESIDENCE  REQUIREMENTS  139 

THE  OUTLOOK  FOR  SUCH  A  PROGRAM 

It  is  improbable  that  the  adoption  of  lengthened  curricula  for  prospective  elemen- 
tary teachers  will  be  in  any  sense  the  slow  and  painful  evolution  that  has  brought  us 
to  our  present  stage.  What  was  once  the  gradual  attainment  of  separate  progressive 
communities,  an  enlightened  state  now  accomplishes  at  a  single  stroke.  The  old  labo- 
rious methods  of  educational  progress  are  unnecessary  when  the  principle  is  plain  and 
a  commonwealth  is  fully  persuaded;  radical  and  adequate  action  must  shortly  take  the 
place  of  the  piecemeal  legislation  that  forever  falls  short.  This  fact  should  encourage 
state  and  institutional  administrators  in  comprehensive  planning  for  the  future.  There 
must  indeed  be  a  rational  sequence  in  the  steps  taken,  the  first  of  which  was  indicated 
at  the  beginning  of  the  present  section.  It  should,  however,  be  clearly  understood  that 
this  is  but  a  step  in  a  much  larger  program  to  follow. 

b.  ADEQUATE  RESIDENCE  REQUIREMENTS  DEPEND  UPON  PEOSPECT  OF  EXTENDED  SERVICE 
The  second  fundamental  rearrangement  that  must  be  effected  before  the  require- 
ments of  prolonged  resident  training  can  be  reasonably  enforced  is  a  lengthened  term 
of  teachers'5  service.  It  appears  unlikely  that  under  present  or  predictable  economic 
conditions  the  service  of  competent  men  in  the  elementary  schools  will  assume  any 
but  negligible  proportions  except  for  administration  and,  here  and  there,  for  special 
undertakings  with  boys.  It  is  true  that  in  the  newer  portions  of  the  country  men  are 
still  to  be  found  teaching  in  the  elementary  schools,  as  in  Missouri,  but  their  number 
has  diminished  steadily.1  In  general,  the  men  who  can  be  obtained  for  regular  instruc- 
tion at  prevailing  salaries  prove  inferior  to  their  women  colleagues,  and  the  disad- 
vantage of  "feminization,"  whatever  it  may  be,  would  be  ill  remedied  by  entrusting 
children  to  weak  teachers  simply  because  they  are  men. 

For  the  present,  at  least,  the  obvious  and  necessary  solution  of  the  problem  lies 
in  a  quite  different  direction ;  namely,  in  the  recognition  and  development  of  teaching 
as  a  permanent  and  serious  profession  for  capable  women  who  are  attracted  thereby, 
wholly  irrespective  of  their  marriage.  The  enforcement  of  this  point  of  view  has  so  vital 
a  connection  with  the  extension  of  residence  requirements  as  well  as  with  the  spirit 
and  organization  of  curricula  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  that  the  considerations 
on  which  it  rests  may  well  be  presented  at  this  point. 

SERVICE  OF  WOMEN  NOW  TERMINATES  WITH  MARRIAGE 

It  is  a  widespread  practice  among  American  school  boards  to  consider  a  woman 
teacher's  marriage  as  equivalent  to  resignation.  Where  not  expressly  provided  in 
formal  regulations,  the  policy  is  often  tacitly  pursued  by  refusal  to  reappoint.  It  is 
safe  to  say  that  the  initial  appointment  of  married  women  except  when  widowed  or 
clearly  unencumbered  with  family  duties  is  very  rare.  The  usual  justification  for 

1  The  proportion  of  men  in  the  teaching  body  has  decreased  since  1900  by  10.8  per  cent  in  the  country  at  large  and 
by  13,5  per  cent  in  Missouri.  Report  of  the  United  States  Commission&r  of  Education^  1917. 


140  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

this  practice  is  based  on  one  of  three  grounds.  The  reason  most  frequently  heard  is 
the  familiar  frank  interpretation  of  tax-paid  positions  as  a  proper  perquisite  for 
the  needy  citizen.  A  married  woman  is  presumably  provided  for;  therefore  let  some 
young  girl  have  the  job.1  A  second  ground  for  objection  is  characteristic  particularly 
of  school  superintendents,  and  is  to  the  effect  that  the  work  of  married  teachers  is 
more  difficult  to  regulate,  and  that  such  teachers  have  meddlesome  and  redoubt- 
able allies  in  the  persons  of  their  husbands.  A  third  objection  to  employing  married 
teachers  is  the  general  and  sound  social  conviction  that  it  is  the  first  business  of  a 
married  woman  to  look  after  her  home,  and  this  duty  is  considered  to  be  impossible 
of  fulfilment  if  the  woman  holds  a  teaching  position. 

REASONS  OFFERED  FOR  THE  PRESENT  PRACTICE 

The  first  of  these  objections  is  held  by  a  class  of  individuals  with  whom  argument 
is  impossible;  the  only  remedy  is  time,  which  may  be  trusted  gradually  to  substitute 
another  point  of  view  toward  all  public  service.  A  certain  warrant  for  the  second  at- 
titude undoubtedly  exists  in  experience  under  conditions  that  have  prevailed  in  many 
parts  of  the  country.  Inferior  teachers,  or  those  that  have  become  inferior  thru  ceas- 
ing to  grow,  entrench  themselves  in  a  community  thru  long,  albeit  dull  and  ineffi- 
cient, service.  The  very  presence  of  a  home  with  husband  and  family  gives  them  a 
substantial  status  and  a  following.  When  occasion  arises  to  exclude  such  a  teacher, 
a  noisy  protest  ensues  from  all  the  partisans,  most  of  whom  are  wholly  ignorant  of 
educational  standards  if  not  of  the  specific  circumstances,  and  if  the  administration 
holds  its  ground,  a  situation  may  arise  that  nearly  wrecks  the  system.  In  reply  to  this 
it  may  be  said  that  such  episodes  are  characteristic  of  school  systems  in  which  a 
mechanical  tenure  prevails,  where  the  notion  that  teachers  stand  or  fall  according 
to  the  excellence  of  their  work  has  little  root  in  the  schools  and  none  in  the  com- 
munity. Such  cases  fall  of  their  own  weight  when  a  school  administration  keeps  unre- 
mittingly before  both  teachers  and  citizens  the  conception  that  teachers  exist  for  the 
good  of  the  pupils;  when  good  work  is  carefully  and  persistently  held  up  to  view; 
when  the  standards  of  selection  are  high;  and  when  parents  are  made  fully  aware 
that  meritorious  teaching  is  their  due.  It  requires  intelligence  to  do  this.  A  higher 
order  of  mental  ability  and  training  is  necessary  to  lead  and  direct  well-developed 
personalities  having  local  professional  standing  as  a  result  of  acknowledged  achieve- 
ment, than  will  suffice  to  handle  a  group  of  young  girls  coming  from  without,  who 
have  no  immediate  friends  and  make  no  trouble  when  dismissed.  The  supply  of  super- 
intendents of  this  type  is  unfortunately  limited,  but  it  is  increasing.  Except  in  spo- 
radic cases,  this  objection,  like  the  first,  harks  back  to  the  time  when  fitness  and 

1  An  unexpected  illustration  of  this  attitude  appears  in  a  recent  action  (September,  1918)  of  the  Boston  School  Com- 
mittee. The  rule  against  married  teachers  appears  to  have  been  in  part  suspended  owing  to  war  conditions.  But  the 
Committee  refused  at  first  to  suspend  the  rule  in  the  case  of  the  wife  of  a  commissioned  officer,  on  the  ground,  as 
quoted  in  a  newspaper  interview  with  one  of  the  members,  that  she  was  already  sufficiently  provided  for.  The  ap- 
pointment was  subsequently  allowed,  but  only  in  order  to  conform  to  an  assurance  of  the  Superintendent  to  the 
teacher  in  question  before  her  marriage. 


RESIDENCE  REQUIREMENTS  141 

training  were  undiscovered  elements  in  a  candidate's  qualifications,  while  the  com- 
fort of  the  board  in  its  relations  with  insistent  citizens,  or  the  convenience  of  the 
superintendent  in  running  his  machine,  was  actually  the  determining  factor. 

WILL  THE  MARRIED  TEACHER  NEGLECT  HER  HOME? 

The  third  consideration  is  of  different  character  and  should  be  seriously  studied. 
It  is  urged  that,  for  a  married  woman  with  a  family,  teaching  necessarily  involves 
neglect  of  the  home  which  should  be  her  paramount  consideration.  An  indispensable 
premise  to  any  argument  to  the  contrary  must  be  that  the  question  has  to  do  only 
with  a  woman  well  trained  for  professional  life  and  whose  occupation  up  to  the  time 
of  her  marriage  was  the  education  of  children.  It  must  be  assumed  further  that  she 
has  been  a  skilful  teacher  and  that  she  thoroughly  enjoys  her  work,  so  that  her 
motive  in  continuing  is  not  merely  economic  advantage.  Women  to  whom  this  does 
not  apply  clearly  should  not  teach.  A  large  number  of  well-educated  women  will  un- 
doubtedly find  complete  satisfaction  solely  in  the  high  art  of  making  and  maintaining 
a  successful  home.  One  of  the  finest  products  of  modern  higher  education  for  women 
has  been  the  worth  and  dignity  that  it  has  revealed  in  this  undertaking.  For  the 
woman  first  described,  however,  the  domestic  situation  is  a  complete  brief  in  favor 
of  her  further  teaching  service.  Her  income  from  teaching  produces  more  than  the 
amount  necessary  to  effect  the  household  arrangements  that  her  absence  requires,  and 
thereby  possibly  delivers  her  from  a  round  of  petty  duties  that  might  be  performed 
equally  well  or  better  by  some  assistant — duties  that  are  often  in  irritating  contrast 
to  the  intellectual  concerns  of  an  educated  woman  before  she  marries,  even  if  they  do 
not  actually  lead  to  disappointment  and  stagnation.  Meanwhile  the  teacher's  profes- 
sional work  maintains  and  develops  in  her  an  intellectual  freshness  and  skill  that 
makes  her  a  superior  guide  for  her  own  children  as  well  as  a  more  interesting  com- 
panion for  her  husband.  Trained  to  systematic  mental  activity  in  the  problems  of 
education,  she  is  now  also  director  of  a  private  laboratory  where  these  problems 
work  out,  and  her  partial  detachment  in  teaching  gives  her  a  clearer  vision  and  per- 
spective than  is  possible  to  a  mother  unassisted  and  constantly  immersed  in  house- 
hold detail — the  usual  alternative.  With  the  family  grown  and  gone,  the  situation  of 
the  teacher-mother  is  incomparably  superior  to  that  of  the  mother-housemaid.  Her 
connections  with  the  world  are  stronger  and  more  significant,  her  grip  on  vital  inter- 
ests is  surer,  and  her  satisfactions  in  life  are  more  durable;  she  is  spared  the  desul- 
tory "busy- work  "of  the  mother  whose  mentality  has  been  exhausted  in  housework; 
and  she  has  before  her  ten  or  twenty  years  of  acknowledged  usefulness  that  is  the 
logical  cumulation  of  a  life  of  directed  study,  service,  and  experience. 

WILL  THE  MARRIED  WOMAN  PROVE  A  LESS  EFFICIENT  TEACHER? 

The  other  and,  for  our  purpose,  more  serious  charge  is  that  a  married  woman  would 
allow  home  duties  to  interfere  with  her  school  duties  and  thus  become  a  less  efficient 


142  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

teacher.  Again  it  must  be  assumed  that  we  deal  here  with  well  trained  and  success- 
ful teachers  who  like  their  work,,  for  only  such  teachers  should  pass  the  probationary 
stage — whether  married  or  single.  It  is  scarcely  probable  that  such  teachers  with 
well-developed  professional  ideals  will  permit  causes  of  undue  interference  with  their 
duties  to  continue  long  even  if  they  arise.  However,  an  argument  of  perfection  can 
hardly  be  turned  against  married  teachers  at  this  point.  It  is  quite  conceivable  that 
domestic  or  private  concerns  might  create  occasional  diversion,  but  the  same  thing 
occurs  repeatedly  with  unmarried  women  teachers  and  even  with  men.  It  seems  need- 
less to  press  this  point.  The  whole  tendency  of  marriage  for  both  men  and  women 
is  to  steady  and  objectify  one's  effort,  to  sift  out  trivial  and  careless  aims,  and  to 
lay  down  lines  of  growth  into  a  consistent  and  unified  career.  To  discredit  this  fact 
in  favor  of  young,  unmarried  women,  without  serious  responsibility  or  experience, 
and  at  a  period  of  conspicuously  uncertain  and  distracted  interest,  is  a  manifest 
absurdity. 

MARBIAGE  AN  ADVANTAGEOUS  QUALIFICATION  FOB  A  TEACHER  OF  CHILDIIEN 

On  the  other  hands  there  is  probably  no  work  to  which  marriage  and  a  normal 
home  life  could  contribute  a  qualification  more  essential  than  they  could  to  teaching; 
tho  not  without  its  application  to  men  in  dealing  with  adolescents,  it  would  appear 
well-nigh  indispensable  for  women  in  the  intelligent  handling  of  small  children. 
In  an  educated  and  professionally  well-trained  woman,  marriage  and  the  deepen- 
ing experiences  of  motherhood  could  not  but  serve  to  clarify  her  insight,  to  broaden 
and  humanize, her  sympathy,  and  to  intensify  devotion  to  her  central  purpose,  —  a 
purpose  that  would  then  link  together  and  coordinate  the  processes  of  both  home 
and  school.  This  latter  result  would  appear  particularly  in  the  transformed  relation 
between  the  school  teacher  and  the  community.  At  present  she  figures  as  a  detached 
public  servant  in  a  class  apart.  If  married  and  a  householder  having  children,  she 
becomes  a  vitally  interested  and  respected  factor  in  society.  With  an  education  supe- 
rior to  that  of  most  other  women,  she  possesses,  by  virtue  of  her  quasi-public  position, 
unusual  opportunities  for  leadership  and  influence  and  would  undoubtedly  improve 
them.  A  town  whose  schools  were  taught  by  its  most  capable  and  best  educated 
married  women  would,  assuming  that  these  were  also  well  trained  for  teaching, 
give  the  country  a  totally  fresh  and  significant  interpretation  of  public  education. 
Such  a  relation  would  carry  the  schools  straight  to  the  heart  of  society's  most  re- 
sponsible group,  and  would  make  them  immeasurably  more  responsive  to  the  pub- 
lic needs. 

ENORMOUS  WASTE  OF  THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM 

Important  as  the  above  considerations  are,  the  weightiest  practical  reason  for  the 
married  teacher  is  still  another.  The  largest  source  of  waste  that  OUT  present  system 
of  teacher  supply  involves  is  the  waste  of  experience  incurred  in  the  loss  each  year  of 


RESIDENCE  REQUIREMENTS  MS 

from  one-fifth  to  one-fourth  of  the  entire  teaching  population.  The  average  teacher 
no  sooner  becomes  fairly  efficient  than  she  leaves  the  service,1  giving  way  to  a  recruit 
who  repeats  the  same  mistakes  of  apprenticeship,  leaving  in  her  turn  before  these  mis- 
takes can  be  transmuted  into  matured  skill.  The  very  nature  of  the  selection  that 
produces  this  loss  seems  to  ensure  the  heaviest  draft  upon  the  best  grades  of  ability 
in  the  teaching  personnel.  Those  with  the  most  active,  the  most  thoughtful  and  force- 
ful minds,  those  who  are  most  attractive  and  resourceful  in  dealing  with  children,  are 
oftenest  among  those  that  leave,  and  because  they  are  successful,  even  under  the  pres- 
ent hard  conditions,  they  most  frequently  leave  with  regret.  By  encouraging  the  best 
teachers  either  thru  added  salary  or  shorter  hours,  or  both,  to  continue  in  the  profes- 
sion after  their  marriage,  this  constant  drain  will  be  partially  stopped  as  the  class  of 
selected,  permanent  workers  increases. 

CONSERVATION  OF  PROFESSIONAL  EFFORT  IN  EUROPE 

The  present  system  is  productive  of  a  further  loss,  the  effect  of  which  may  be  under- 
stood only  by  comparing  American  conditions  with  those  prevailing  on  the  Continent 
of  Europe.  There  the  great  majority  of  the  teachers  £re  men.  They  assume  their  duties 
with  the  knowledge  that  teaching  is  to  be  the  life  work  for  which  they  have  received 
a  long  and  appropriate  training.  No  sooner  do  they  become  established  in  their  posi- 
tions than  they  unite,  with  few  exceptions,  in  teachers'  societies  that  have  for  their 
object  the  study  and  promotion  of  the  schools  they  teach.  These  organizations  are  in- 
cessantly busy.  From  them  proceed  the  most  effective  criticisms  of  current  practice  and 
carefully  studied  experiments  directed  toward  improvement.  As  the  body  of  teachers 
is  permanent,  this  mass  of  experience  is  cumulative,  fine  traditions  are  created,  and 
the  teacher  in  service  is  educated,  sometimes  in  spite  of  himself,  to  a  very  high  level 
of  performance.  As  in  the  university  and  secondary  schools  abroad,  so  it  is  in  the  ele- 
mentary schools :  the  teachers  themselves  control  and  develop  in  great  part  the  func- 
tion that  they  discharge. 

ABSENCE  OP  ORGANIZED  EFFORT  AMONG  ELEMENTARY  TEACHERS  IN  AMERICA 

Consider  the  situation  among  the  agents  of  elementary  instruction  in  the  United 
States.  With  much  shifting  from  place  to  place  they  are  in  and  out  of  school  work 
altogether  in  half  the  time  that  a  child  is  expected  to  spend  with  them.  Professional 
coherence  and  activity  does  not  and  cannot  exist;  there  is  no  time  for  the  great  cause 
they  are  supposed  to  serve  to  take  root  in  their  imaginations;  they  move  as  individ- 
uals without  collective  force  or  expression,  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  principals 
and  superintendents,  good  and  bad,  who  direct  them.  Higher  education  with  us  is  self- 
directive;  secondary  education  is  partly  so;  while  the  average  elementary  teacher  is 

1  This  statement  is  more  than  merely  figuratively  true.  The  "  average  "  elementary  teacher  does  not  serve  more  than 
four  years,  and  the  studies  of  teacher-rating  jus tiftr  the  inference  that,  in  the  average  of  cases^about  four  years  of 
experience  are  essential  to  the  development  of  teaching:  skill  to  the  point  where  it  will  he  rated  as  superiorly  com- 
petent supervisors. 


144  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

voiceless  except  in  cities,  where  she  lends  herself  automatically  to  a  perennial  agita- 
tion for  more  salary. 

MARRIED  TEACHERS  WOULD  REWIRE  BETTER  CONDITIONS 

If  this  situation  can  be  corrected  at  all,  it  must  be  as  above  stated,  namely,  by 
making  a  life  career  of  teaching  possible  and  attractive  to  successful  women.  Under 
present  conditions  it  is  not  probable  that  many  teachers  of  the  kind  desired  would  con- 
tinue  to  teach  after  their  marriage  even  if  the  opportunity  were  given.  This  is  de- 
cidedly in  their  favor  and  against  present  conditions.  Children  need  strong,  rested, 
and  clear-seeing  teachers ;  instead  of  which  the  present  regime  is  likely  to  produce 
teachers  who  are  inclined  to  weariness,  nervous  tension,  and  depression.  A  part-time 
plan  for  teachers  would  be  harder  to  carry  out,  but  the  actual  results  would  undoubt- 
edly be  a  great  gain.  Better  forty  positions  with  a  short  day  for  skilled,  experienced, 
and  finely  productive  married  women,  whose  ability  has  made  them  a  permanent  and 
recognized  asset  in  the  community,  than  a  fluctuating,  overworked  group  of  twenty 
young  apprentices  of  doubtful  intentions  and  divided  interests. 

EFFECT  OF  PROLONGED  TENURE  ON  TRAINING 

The  effect  of  this  point  of  view  upon  the  professional  curriculum  is  apparent.  Many 
normal  schools  to-day  herd  their  students,  much  as  many  superintendents  herd  their 
teachers.  The  demand  presses;  all  sorts  of  material  must  be  utilized;  each  teacher 
produced  is  presumably  short-lived  so  far  as  service  goes  and  must  soon  be  replaced. 
There  prevail,  therefore,  all  the  usual  evils  of  mass  production  for  the  temporary 
repair  of  excessive  wastage :  slighted  preparation,  poor  selection,  hurried  processes,  lax 
inspection,  and  much  false  branding  of  finished  goods.  Given  the  new  motive,  how- 
ever, each  training  agency  could  seriously  set  out  to  make  genuine  teachers.  A  dis- 
criminating choice  of  students,  a  deliberate,  ripened  training,  and  a  thorough  testing 
of  the  product  would  be  worth  while  in  preparing  a  teacher  to  face  her  peculiar  pro- 
fession of  school  and  home  education  as  a  man  faces  medicine  or  law.  The  necessity 
of  longer  training  for  longer  service  would  be  manifest;  fewer  new  teachers  would  be 
required;  more  could  be  expected  of  the  profession  itself  in  the  form  of  continuous 
and  organized  self-criticism  and  growth. 


3.  Prescription  versus  Election  of  Studies 

A  striking  difference  between  the  state  normal  schools  of  Missouri  and  the  city 
training  schools  of  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  is  the  closely  prescribed  programs  of 
the  latter  as  compared  with  the  largely  elective  programs  of  the  former.  Various  rea- 
sons are  assigned  in  explanation  of  this  difference.  The  city  training  schools  prepare 
for  a  clearly  defined  type  of  service.  The  students  will  presently  teach  a  prescribed 
and  uniform  elementary  curriculum  based  upon  uniform  textbooks.  Their  preparation, 


PRESCRIPTION  VERSUS  ELECTION  145 

consequently,  calls  for  a  very  specific  treatment  of  the  field.  The  state  normal  schools, 
on  the  other  hand,  endeavor  to  prepare  for  high  school  teaching  as  well  as  for  service 
in  elementary  schools,  and  in  the  preparation  even  of  elementary  teachers,  they  have 
believed  that  the  logic  of  their  situation  required  them  to  aim  toward  an  adaptability 
that  would  enable  their  graduates  to  meet  varying  situations.  It  is  not  clear,  however, 
that  this  need  of  ensuring  elasticity  has  been  the  primary  reason  for  the  normal  schools' 
adoption  of  the  elective  system.  The  interlocking  organization  of  the  one-year,  two- 
year,  three-year,  and  four-year  curricula,  referred  to  later,1  provides  for  a  gradual  ac- 
cumulation of  credits  representing  work  which  may  transform  a  teacher  of  elemen- 
tary subjects  into  a  high  school  specialist.  For  this  purpose  as  well  as  to  allow  for  the 
intermittent  attendance  encouraged  by  the  state  schools,  the  elective  system  offers  the 
simplest  plan  for  organizing  a  program  of  studies.  Beyond  this,  and  perhaps  still  more 
influential  in  determining  the  procedure,  has  been  a  somewhat  unreflective  imitation 
by  the  normal  schools  of  the  curriculum  policies  characteristic  of  the  liberal-arts  col- 
leges. The  normal  schools,  it  is  true,  have  sought  to  justify  this  imitation,  in  so  far  as 
the  elective  system  is  concerned,  by  insisting  that  the  needs  of  the  individual  are  al- 
ways of  paramount  consideration.  If  this  principle  could  be  effectively  offset  by  a  com- 
plementary postulate  that  would  safeguard  the  needs  of  the  service  for  which  these 
individuals  are  being  prepared,  there  could  be  no  objection  to  it;  but  to  make  these 
adjustments  involves  difficulties  quite  as  serious  as  those  that  are  encountered  in  ad- 
ministering a  prescribed  curriculum  in  away  that  will  not  do  injustice  to  the  individ- 
ual. The  typical  student  programs  cited  elsewhere2  abundantly  testify  that  the  Mis- 
souri normal  schools  have  not  succeeded  in  solving  the  problem  in  a  satisfactory  man- 
ner. A  final  factor  in  determining  the  adoption  of  the  elective  system  has  been  the 
desire  of  the  normal  schools  to  have  their  courses  articulate  closely  with  those  of  the 
universities,  to  which  many  of  their  students  expect  to  go. 

DEFINITION  OF  PRESCBIFTION 

When  the  question  is  considered  from  a  purely  objective  standpoint,  however,  it 
is  fair  to  ask  whether,  as  a  matter  of  general  policy,  prescribed  curricula  are  not  both 
theoretically  and  practically  preferable  either  to  the  elective  system  or  to  the  group- 
requirement  system  for  institutions  that  prepare  teachers.  Under  the  assumption 
that  the  institution  is  really  what  it  purports  to  be,— namely,  a  strictly  professional 
school,  preparing  for  clearly  defined  and  fairly  well-standardized  types  of  public 
service, — is  it  not  advisable  to  lay  down  systematic  programs  of  instruction  and 
training,  each  of  which  shall  comprise  the  materials  that  experience  has  shown  to  be 
most  clearly  related  to  the  specific  field  of  service  that  the  student  proposes  to 
enter?  This  does  not  mean  that  deviations  from  the  prescribed  curricula  should  not 
be  permitted ;  it  means  rather  that  these  deviations  should  be  clearly  consistent  with 
the  needs  both  of  the  individual  and  of  the  service,  that  they  should  be  subject 


1  See  page  162.  *  See  pages  411-417. 


146  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

neither  to  the  whim  of  the  student  nor  to  the  accident  of  class  hours,  and  that  they 
should  be  permitted  only  with  the  approval  of  an  official  or  a  committee  acting  under 
rules  laid  down  by  faculty  action.  With  such  a  provision,  carefully  and  sincerely  ad- 
ministered, the  prescriptive  system  would  acquire  much  of  bhe  elasticity  that  is  the 
important  advantage  of  the  elective  plan,  and  would  avoid  its  evils.  The  more  serious 
disadvantages  of  the  elective  and  group-requirement  systems  may  be  summarized  as 
follows. 

THEORY  OF  " EQUIVALENCE"  OF  COURSES  FOR  PROFESSIONAL  PURPOSES 

Both  systems  imply  an  equivalence  of  educational  values  among  different  courses 
which  on  their  face  are  not  equivalent  in  their  value  as  preparation  for  specific  types 
of  teaching.  It  is  in  this  connection  that  the  weakness  of  the  group  system  is  most 
apparent.  The  natural  sciences,  for  example,  frequently  constitute  a  single  group, 
and  a  student  is  required  to  take  so  many  semester  hours  of  "science."  In  the  eyes 
of  those  who  make  this  indiscriminate  requirement,  it  is  apparently  not  the  content 
or  subject-matter  of  the  science  courses  that  is  important;  the  "discipline"  of  scien- 
tific method  is  the  ostensible  end  sought.  From  this  point  of  view,  all  of  the  sciences 
are  assumed  to  stand  upon  the  same  level.  But  in  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  the 
specific  work  of  imparting  instruction,  the  nature  of  the  subject-matter  can  never  be 
the  relatively  unimportant  factor  that  the  theory  of  formal  discipline  would  assume, 
and  the  particular  sciences  that  are  to  find  a  place  in  a  teacher- training  curriculum 
cannot  so  nonchalantly  be  made  a  minor  consideration  on  the  easy  assumption  that 
"it  is  the  training  that  counts,"  and  that  for  purposes  of  training  "one  science  is 
just  as  good  as  another."  Similar  allotments  of  a  stated  number  of  hours  in  the  so- 
cial sciences,  or  even  in  the  narrower  field  of  history,  are  equally  inadequate  to  the 
needs  of  specific  preparation  for  the  work  of  teaching. 

The  inappropriateness  of  choice  resulting  from  group  election  would  of  itself  be 
sufficient  to  condemn  the  system;  but  its  case  is  still  worse  when  it  is  remembered 
that  these  group  requirements  are  often  mere  compromises  among  contending  aca- 
demic departments,  each  of  which  zealously  presses  its  own  claims  for  recognition. 
On  this  basis  the  outcome  has  relatively  little  educational  value.  Whatever  may  be 
the  evils  of  the  system  in  tempting  the  instructor  to  offer  "snap"  courses,  it  is  clear 
that  the  prescribed  program  removes  all  such  inducement.  It  also  has  the  effect  of 
concentrating  the  teacher's  entire  attention  on  improving  the  quality  of  the  regular 
standard  courses  for  which  he  is  responsible  instead  of  placing  a  premium  upon  vari- 
ety which  is  bound  to  be  more  or  less  experimental  in  character. 

THE  PROFESSIONAL  STUDENT  NOT  QUALIFIED  TO  ELECT 

Both  systems  imply  a  mistaken  trust  in  the  ability  of  the  relatively  immature  stu- 
dent to  determine  not  only  what  is  best  for  him  as  an  individual  but,  in  institutions 
preparing  for  public  service,  what  is  best  for  the  service — a  far  more  delicate  and 


PRESCRIPTION  VERSUS  ELECTION  147 

important  matter.  Even  when  choices  are  subject  to  the  approval  of  faculty  advisers, 
the  advice  is  not  infrequently  influenced  by  partisan  or  departmental  motives  that 
tend  to  overshadow  the  fundamental  needs  both  of  the  individual  and  of  the  schools 
in  which  he  will  teach;  while  in  some  cases  the  advice  is  purely  perfunctory,  the  stu- 
dent really  electing  subjects  as  he  chooses  or  under  the  adventitious  controls  repre- 
sented by  one's  favorite  class-hours,  the  popularity  or  unpopularity  of  certain  in- 
structors, or  even  the  place  of  the  subject  in  the  schedule  of  final  examinations.  If, 
however,  curricula  are  prescribed  with  minute  care  and  are  subject  to  change  only 
by  approval  of  an  official  or  a  committee  acting  under  carefully  formulated  rules, 
there  is  every  likelihood  that  principles  of  educational  value  will  be  much  more  ade- 
quately reflected,  both  in  the  prescriptions  themselves  and  in  the  substitutions  that 
are  permitted. 

SEQUENCE  DIFFICULT  TO  MAINTAIN 

A  most  serious  objection  to  the  elective  and  group  systems  is  the  difficulty  in  pre- 
serving the  essential  sequences  in  courses.  An  attempt  is  often  made  to  meet  this  need 
by  stating  prerequisites,  altho  in  the  Missouri  normal  schools  these  are  not  substan- 
tial either  as  stated  in  the  catalogues  or  as  enforced  in  practice.  The  prescriptive  pol- 
icy, tempered  as  has  been  suggested  by  the  permission  of  changes  under  stated  rules, 
places  primary  emphasis  upon  sequence  and  order,  and  then  examines  each  claim  for 
exemption  or  substitution  upon  its  own  individual  merits. 

Is  THE  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  STUPENT  IMPROVED  BY  ELECTION? 

There  are  certain  alleged  advantages  of  the  elective  and  group  systems  that  merit 
attention  in  this  connection.  It  has  been  urged  that  under  the  elective  system  the 
attitude  of  the  student  is  more  favorable;  he  believes  that  his  studies  are  of  his  own 
choosing,  and  consequently,  it  is  asserted,  his  work  is  more  whole-hearted  and  thor- 
ough. A  careful  search  was  made  for  evidences  of  greater  interest  and  enthusiasm 
among  the  students  of  the  state  normal  schools  as  compared  with  the  students  of  the 
city  training  schools  with  their  rigidly  prescribed  curricula.  If  there  were  any  differ- 
ences, they  were  distinctly  not  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  city  training  schools,  — altho 
it  cannot  be  asserted  that  the  policy  of  prescription  had  in  any  sense  a  causal  influ- 
ence. Interest,  enthusiasm,  and  hard  work  are  elements  that,  in  so  far  as  they  depend 
upon  the  exercise  of  the  student's  choice,  are  the  product  of  his  initial  decision  as  to 
the  goal  at  which  he  hopes  to  arrive.  A  student  chooses  whether  he  will  study  law  or 
medicine,  or  whether  he  will  become  a  primary  or  an  upper  grade  teacher,  and  works 
more  happily  when  bis  goal  inspires  him;  but  with  his  choice  once  made,  any  clear- 
headed professional  student  would  rather  undertake  the  studies  that  a  competent 
authority  tells  him  he  needs  than  wander  unguided  thru  a  program  whose  values  he 
cannot  possibly  predetermine. 


148  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

EFFECT  OF  ELECTION  ON  "INITIATIVE"" 

A  second  supposed  merit  of  the  elective  and  group  systems  is  really  a  specific  ex- 
pression of  an  educational  doctrine  accepted  by  many  as  axiomatic.  Freedom,  it  is 
asserted,  promotes  the  development  of  that  valuable  quality  known  as  "  initiative," 
while  prescription  with  its  restrictions  tends  to  choke  originality  and  to  predispose 
the  student  to  a  more  or  less  blind  acceptance  of  authority.  No  one  would  deny  the 
general  validity  of  this  position,  but  much  confusion  is  likely  to  result  from  an  undis- 
criminating  application  of  the  implied  principle  to  the  work  of  education.  Each  of 
the  words  "  freedom,""  "initiative,""  "originality,1"  and  "restrictions"  may  be  applied  to 
situations  having  diametrically  opposite  meanings,  and  there  will  always  be  a  temp- 
tation to  profit  by  these  possibilities  of  equivocation,  especially  in  utilizing  the  prin- 
ciple to  support  loose  and  careless  practices  or  to  cloak  the  unwillingness  of  those 
in  authority  to  assume  a  corresponding  measure  of  responsibility.  Freedom  that  the 
truth  has  made  is  confused  with  mere  lack  of  direction;  "initiative  and  originality" 
in  putting  together  a  bizarre  program  of  studies  is  substituted  for  aggressive  mental 
comprehension  under  competent  leadership,  and  administrative  laziness  makes  it  an 
august  pedagogical  principle  to  allow  students  to  do  as  they  please.  It  is  clear  that 
any  principle,  however  valid  in  the  abstract,  must  be  applied  with  caution  whenever 
it  can  be  used  easily  to  conceal  or  to  sanction  the  path  of  least  resistance.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  there  is  no  evidence  that  carefully  constructed  and  intelligently  adminis- 
tered curricula  of  the  prescribed  type  in  technical  and  professional  schools  exert  a 
deleterious  influence  upon  initiative  and  originality,  and  there  is  an  abundance  of 
evidence  that  system,  order,  and  a  willingness  to  undergo  discipline  are  likely  to  go 
hand  in  hand  with  constructive  ability  of  the  highest  character.1 

Whatever  may  be  the  virtues  of  the  elective  and  group-requirement  systems  in 
institutions  of  general  education,  their  place  in  professional  and  technical  education 
would  seem  to  be  narrowly  limited.  As  an  administrative  device  for  facilitating  the 
construction  of  individual  curricula,  the  group  system  especially  may  have  legitimate 
uses,  but  even  here  the  many  advantages  of  definitely  prescribed  curricula  made  up  of 
carefully  selected  and  well-articulated  courses  would  amply  compensate  for  the  diffi- 
culties that  are  likely  to  be  encountered  in  their  construction  and  administration. 

4.  The  Extent  and  Criteria  of  Curriculum  Differentiation 

In  constructing  a  comprehensive  program  of  studies  for  the  professional  pz*epara- 
tion  of  teachers  two  important  questions  relating  to  differentiation  arise:  (1)  How 
are  curricula  for  teachers  to  be  differentiated  in  general  from  curricula  that  are  non- 
vocational  or  liberal  in  their  purpose?  and  (2)  What  different  kinds  of  specific  curric- 
ula are  essential  to  a  preparation  of  public  school  teachers  that  will  adequately  meet 
current  needs? 

xCf.  an  illuminating  article  by  E,L.  Thorndike,  '*  Education  for  Initiative  and  Originality,"  Teachers  College  Record, 
November,  1916. 


DIFFERENTIATION  149 

a.  INCIDENTAL  versus  ORGANIZED  PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING 

Opinion  relative  to  the  first  question  is  divided  between  (a)  those  who  maintain 
that  the  best  training  for  a  teacher  is  essentially  a  "general1'  education  with  emphasis 
upon  the  subject-matter  to  be  taught,  but  with  added  courses  in  educational  theory 
and  practice,  and  (6)  those  who  hold  that  the  curriculum  should  be  constructed 
throughout,  academic  and  professional  subjects  alike,  with  a  view  to  the  needs  of  those 
who  are  planning  to  teach.  The  former  point  of  view  has  naturally  been  emphasized 
by  the  liberal-arts  colleges  that  have  recognized  the  importance  of  preparing  teach- 
ers; the  latter  point  of  view  is  characteristic  of  certain,  altho  by  no  means  all,  of  the 
normal  schools. 

That  a  teacher  should  have  the  broadest  possible  foundation  in  scholarship  has 
never  been  seriously  disputed,  but  there  are  varying  opinions  as  to  the  meaning  of 
"broad  scholarship,"  and  the  particular  meaning  that  any  one  person  gives  to  the 
term  is  likely  to  be  misinterpreted  and  exaggerated  by  others.  Those  who  plead  for 
extensive  information  as  an  essential  basis  for  all  teaching  are  likely  to  be  accused  of 
favoring  a  superficial  acquaintance  with  many  different  fields  of  knowledge,  while  those 
who  lay  the  emphasis  upon  depth  and  accuracy  are  met  with  the  charge  of  narrowness 
and  pedantry.  There  has  been,  and  still  is,  among  college  faculties  a  decided  prejudice 
against  the  normal  schools  for  leaning  toward  the  superficial,  while  principals  of  high 
schools  have  not  hesitated  to  accuse  college-trained  teachers  of  having  no  interest 
save  in  the  advanced  phases  of  their  own  specialties.  In  each  case  the  criticism,  while 
justified  in  particular  instances,  has  usually  been  generalized  to  an  unwarrantable 
extent,  but  the  situation  that  actually  exists  reveals  the  need  of  a  more  definite 
agreement  as  to  the  kind  and  amount  of  "  broad  scholarship "  that  a  teacher  should 
possess. 

We  have  already  concluded  that  the  specific  preparation  for  teaching  should  be 
based  upon  a  general  or  liberal  education  equivalent  to  that  represented  by  graduation 
from  a  four-year  high  school.  We  may  assume  that  this  implies  an  acquaintance  with 
the  chief  departments  of  knowledge  as  these  are  presented  in  a  secondary  school.  If  a 
curriculum  for  teachers  involves  only  two  years  of  study  beyond  the  high  school,  it  is 
clear  that  the  bulk  of  this  time  must  be  given  to  the  intensive  mastery  of  the  specific 
subject-matter  to  be  taught  and  to  the  essential  minimum  of  work  in  educational  the- 
ory and  practice.  But  the  specific  subject-matter  that  is  taught  in  the  elementary  school 
is  by  no  means  narrow  in  its  scope,  and  the  courses  presenting  this  subject-matter 
assuredly  need  not  be  lacking  in  the  breadth  and  enrichment  characteristic  of  liberal 
studies. 

This  point  of  view,  which  some  American  normal  schools  have  recognized  in 
theory,  and  which  a  few  have  successfully  reflected  in  their  practice,  merits  serious 
consideration.  Is  it  possible  so  to  organize  the  content  of  elementary  school  studies 
that  normal  school  students  undertaking  these  courses  shall  not  merely  "review" 
previously  gained  knowledge,  but  rather  acquire  what  will  be  substantially  "  new 


150  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

views "  of  familiar  matter  as  well  as  much  genuinely  fresh  knowledge  ?  Can  such 
courses  induce  a  quality  of  mental  effort  and  ensure  a  degree  of  mental  growth  equiva- 
lent to  that  which  is  implied  in  the  courses  now  recognized  as  of  collegiate  texture? 

ARITHMETIC 

In  arithmetic,  for  example,  the  teacher  needs  to  "  know  "  the  process  of  long  divi- 
sion, let  us  say,  in  the  sense  of  understanding  clearly  the  reasons  for  the  several 
steps  involved,  and  of  having  a  reasonable  degree  of  skill  in  applying  the  process 
quickly  and  accurately.  Beyond  this,  however,  he  should  understand  the  mathemat- 
ical logic  of  the  process ;  he  should  know  how  it  evolved,  and  particularly  the  dis- 
advantages of  the  more  cumbrous  processes  that  preceded  it.  He  thus  acquires  a 
quite  new  view  of  something  with  which  he  already  has,  in  his  own  judgment,  a  con- 
siderable measure  of  familiarity.  His  added  knowledge  may  not  include  materials 
which,  as  a  teacher  of  elementary  arithmetic,  he  will  pass  on  to  his  pupils,  but  it 
will  deepen  his  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  what  he  does  pass  on,  and  it  will 
clarify  his  own  understanding  of  the  process  itself.  An  analogous  treatment  may  well 
be  accorded  to  every  topic  represented  in  the  subject.  Even  the  primary  teacher,  strug- 
gling with  the  development  of  the  simplest  number  concepts  and  processes,  will  find 
new  insight  and  inspiration  for  her  work  in  a  knowledge  of  primitive  number  systems 
and  of  the  steps  that  the  race  traversed  in  its  development  of  the  existing  system  of 
notation  and  numeration.  If  to  these  genetic  studies  one  adds  relevant  excursions  into 
the  psychology  of  number,  especially  in  connection  with  tests  and  scales,  it  is  clear 
that  a  course  of  distinctly  advanced  character  and  quality  is  obtained,  all  of  which 
serves  the  teacher's  ultimate  need.  In  treating  the  more  advanced  topics,  emphasis  laid 
upon  industrial  applications,  the  construction  and  use  of  commercial  devices,  and  sim- 
ilar topics,  brings  a  significant  extension  of  one's  range  of  knowledge.  The  equivalence 
of  such  a  course  to  algebra  or  solid  geometry  is  irrelevant;  in  respect  to  the  enlarge- 
ment of  one's  intellectual  horizon,  its  contribution  is  evident,  and  its  appropriateness 
for  the  purpose  in  view  need  not  detract  from  its  value. 

OTHER  ELEMENTARY  SUBJECTS 

Similarly  a  course  in  literature  for  children  offered  to  prospective  teachers  should 
involve  much  more  than  a  study  of  literature  in  the  form  in  which  little  children 
will  assimilate  it.  The  very  fact  that  many  of  the  poems  and  stories  of  childhood  are 
among  the  oldest  and  most  persistent  products  of  the  world's  culture  suggests  at 
once  the  wealth  of  material  available  for  a  teachers'  course  in  this  subject.  It  goes 
without  saying  that  a  teacher  can  use  this  literature  with  children  more  effectively 
if  he  knows  its  antecedents  and  origins,  and  consequently  realizes  that  he  is  dealing, 
not  with  trivial  materials  valuable  simply  because  they  are  adapted  to  immature 
minds,  but  rather  with  a  significant  and  precious  human  heritage.  Certainly  in  its 


DIFFERENTIATION  151 

cultural  quality  a  course  of  this  type  may  easily  be  made  to  compare  favorably  with 
any  collegiate  course  in  mythology  or  folk-lore, 

The  opportunities  in  connection  with  history  are  equally  numerous.  The  elementary 
school  teacher  needs  a  basis  in  historical  knowledge  much  broader  than  that  which 
the  historical  content  of  the  elementary  program  represents,  A  part  of  this  basis  will 
be  furnished  by  the  courses  in  history  that  he  has  completed  in  the  high  school; 
but  beyond  this,  there  must  be  a  comprehensive  and  illuminating  study  of  the  ele- 
mentary materials  themselves,  involving  a  knowledge  of  movements  and  causal  rela- 
tionships which  could  not  be  included  in  the  elementary  program,  but  which  will  aid 
in  making  elementary  teaching  effective;  and  involving,  too,  a  much  more  serious 
effort  to  make  the  past  really  "  live"  than  the  ordinary  college  course  usually  attempts. 
Thus  the  ideal  course  in  history  provided  for  prospective  elementary  school  teachers 
will  differ  from  the  ordinary  college  course  dealing  with  the  same  materials,  but  it 
should  be  no  less  replete  with  enlarging  experience,  and  certainly  no  less  worthy  of 
collegiate  rating. 

The  possibility  of  organizing  collegiate  courses  for  teachers  in  such  subjects  as 
geography,  nature  study,  and  physiology  and  hygiene  is  even  more  apparent  than  in 
connection  with  arithmetic,  literature,  and  history.  In  each  case  there  is  a  distinct 
need  of  a  course  or  of  several  courses  differentiated  in  important  respects  from  cor- 
responding courses  organized  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  typical  liberal-arts  col- 
lege, but  in  each  case,  also,  it  is  apparent  that  the  essential  differentiations  do  not 
mean  that  the  differentiated  courses  shall  cease  to  embody  the  accepted  principle 
that  all  teachers  should  possess  a  substantial  basis  in  genuine  scholarship. 

HIGH  SCHOOL  SUBJECTS 

We  have  been  speaking  hitherto  of  courses  for  prospective  elementary  school 
teachers.  Will  the  preparation  of  high  school  teachers  involve  a  similar  need  of  sub- 
ject-matter courses  differentiated  from  courses  in  the  liberal-arts  colleges?  It  may 
be  urged  that  as  regards  both  the  materials  themselves  and  their  organization  for 
teaching,  the  high  school  courses  in  literature,  the  sciences,  mathematics,  and  his- 
tory do  not  differ  essentially  from  collegiate  courses  in  the  same  subjects.  Indeed, 
except  in  the  case  of  mathematics,  the  ordinary  subjects  of  the  high  school  program 
may  be  found  under  the  same  names  on  the  collegiate  list,  while  the  more  advanced 
collegiate  courses  are  in  many  cases  only  expansions  of  topics  treated  more  briefly 
in  the  introductory  courses.  Thus  it  might  be  inferred  that  the  typical  collegiate 
courses  would  form  an  adequate  preparation  for  teaching  the  corresponding  subjects 
in  the  high  school.  To  this  it  must  be  objected  that  the  organization  of  its  courses 
on  the  collegiate  model  has  been  one  of  the  most  serious  weaknesses  of  the  high 
school,  that  modern  tendencies  in  high  school  development  emphasize  a  type  of  or- 
ganization more  closely  correlated  with  the  needs  and  abilities  of  secondary  pupils, 


152  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

and  that,  consistently  with  this  tendency,  special  courses  for  prospective  high  school 
teachers  should  be  differentiated  to  a  very  appreciable  degree  from  corresponding 
courses  in  liberal-arts  colleges.  There  is,  in  fact,  an  urgent  need  for  specific  courses 
of  collegiate  character  covering  the  subject-matter  of  the  secondary  program,  much 
as  the  courses  described  above  are  conceived  to  cover  the  subject-matter  of  the  ele- 
mentary program.  The  high  school  teacher  of  mathematics,  for  example,  should 
surely  undertake  mathematical  studies  well  in  advance  of  those  that  he  proposes  to 
teach,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  content  of  these  advanced  courses  should  be 
modified  by  the  fact  that  he  is  to  teach  high  school  mathematics.  But  in  any  case 
he  needs  courses  in  elementary  algebra  and  in  plane  geometry  which  will  not  only 
refresh  his  mind  with  regard  to  elementary  principles  and  processes,  but  will  also 
give  him  a  much  deeper  and  broader  conception  of  principles  and  a  much  more  facile 
mastery  of  processes  than  his  earlier  secondary  course  could  possibly  give.  Such 
courses  should  emphasize  the  historical  development  of  these  elementary  processes, 
and  they  should  lay  stress  particularly  upon  the  possibilities  and  methods  of  illu- 
minating instruction  by  the  applications  of  elementary  mathematics  to  a  wide  vari- 
ety of  scientific,  technical,  and  industrial  problems. 

SPECIAL  CURRICULA  IN  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  FOR  HIGH  SCHOOL  TEACHERS 

If  it  is  true  that  the  subject-matter  for  prospective  high  school  teachers  should  be 
differentiated  from  the  corresponding  subject-matter  taught  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  liberal-arts  college,  there  may  be  a  distinct  place  for  the  preparation  of  high  school 
teachers  in  at  least  some  of  the  normal  schools,  and  certainly  for  the  development  of 
differentiated  teachers  colleges  in  the  universities.  On  the  other  hand,  if  subject-mat- 
ter courses  do  not  need  to  be  modified  for  the  preparation  of  high  school  teachers,  a 
policy  which  favors  the  extensive  use  of  the  normal  schools  for  this  purpose  implies 
that  much  of  the  work  of  these  schools  looking  toward  the  training  of  high  school 
teachers  will  be  a  duplication  of  the  work  of  the  liberal-arts  colleges.  Inasmuch  as 
certain  normal  schools  are  now  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  high  school  teachers,  it 
would  seem  advisable  to  emphasize  clearly  in  some  of  these  normal  schools  the  prin- 
ciple of  differentiation  referred  to  above, — that  is,  definitely  modifying  all  courses 
with  reference  to  their  bearing  upon  the  problem  of  high  school  teaching.  The  pro- 
ducts of  these  schools  could  then  be  compared  with  the  products  of  the  liberal-arts 
colleges  and  of  other  normal  schools  in  which  the  subject-matter  courses  are  replicas 
of  those  offered  in  the  liberal-arts  colleges.  How  far  the  present  organization  of  sub- 
ject-matter courses  in  the  Missouri  normal  schools  will  serve  the  purposes  of  such 
a  test  is  a  question  that  will  be  considered  in  a  later  section  of  this  report.1 


1  See  pages  228  ff. 


DIFFERENTIATION  153 

ADVANTAGE  OF  DIFFERENTIATION 

The  great  advantage  of  the  differentiations  proposed  is  that  they  permit  the  con- 
struction of  a  thoroughly  integrated  curriculum  which,  in  its  turn,  serves  to  concen- 
trate all  of  the  work  of  the  student  upon  a  unified  problem.  Whenever  such  concen- 
tration is  possible  it  is  obviously  the  method  of  educational  organization  that  will 
yield  the  largest  returns.  When  a  student  enters  upon  a  program  of  studies  that  is 
clearly  professional,  the  time  has  come  for  this  essential  concentration.  A  teacher  as 
a  teacher  needs  what  we  know  as  the  liberal  studies,  but  just  because  his  need  is  a  pro- 
fessional need,  the  pursuit  of  these  studies  by  the  prospective  teacher  may  profit- 
ably, and  should  logically,  differ  in  important  respects  from  their  pursuit  by  students 
who  necessarily  regard  them  from  anon-professional  point  of  view.  A  student  of  chem- 
istry, for  example,  if  he  proposes  to  be  a  textile  expert,  fixes  his  attention  primarily 
on  the  processes  as  they  may  be  of  use  to  him  in  a  future  career;  his  business  is  to 
have  the  formulae  at  his  command.  If,  however,  he  be  intending  to  teach  chemistry,  his 
business  is  to  watch  also  the  organization  and  sequence  of  material  as  it  affects  his  own 
learning  process  in  order  that  he  may  help  others  to  master  it  with  a  minimum  of 
effort;  he  seeks  to  comprehend  the  related  fields  as  thoroughly  as  possible  in  order  to 
make  the  central  course  suggestive  and  significant;  as  a  prospective  teacher  he  under- 
takes consciously  to  analyze  and  assimilate  the  learner's  whole  need  and  point  of  view. 

b.  DEGREE  OF  DIFFERENTIATION  REQUIRED 

The  second  problem  relative  to  differentiation  has  to  do  with  the  number  of  spe- 
cialized curricula  that  are  essential  in  a  comprehensive  system  for  the  preparation  of 
teachers.  Present  practice  distinguishes  sharply  between  the  preparation  of  high  school 
teachers  and  the  preparation  of  elementary  teachers ;  and,  with  less  vigor,  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  high  school  teachers  as  among  the  various  subjects  or  groups  of  cognate  sub- 
jects. There  seems,  further,  to  be  a  general  agreement  that,  in  the  preparation  of  ele- 
mentary teachers,  the  specific  training  for  kindergarten  and  primary  work  should  be 
provided  for  in  a  separate  curriculum.  A  third  type  of  differentiation,  already  well 
recognized,  provides  separate  curricula  for  prospective  teachers  and  supervisors  of 
the  so-called  "special  subjects," — agriculture,  drawing,  household  arts,  industrial 
arts,  music,  and  physical  education. 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  the  general  principle  of  specific  training  for  specific  types  of 
teaching  service  already  has  a  substantial  basis  both  in  theory  and  in  practice.  In  two 
large  and  important  divisions  of  the  service,  however,  this  principle  has  not  as  yet 
been  generally  applied.  We  refer,  first,  to  elementary  teaching  beyond  the  first  and 
second  grades,  and,  second,  to  the  administrative  work  represented  by  the  elementary 
principalship,  the  high  school  principalship,  and  the  superintendency.  In  a  third 
division  of  the  service  —  namely  rural  school  teaching — the  principle  of  specific 
preparation  has  been  recognized,  but  rather  from  the  point  of  view  of  immediate 
expediency  than  from  a  clear  acceptance  of  rural  school  teaching  as  a  distinctive  field. 


CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

MIDDLE  AND  UPPER  GRADES  STILL  FORM  A  SINGLE  FIELD 

If  present  practice  correctly  reflects  underlying  theory,  it  is  apparently  believed 
that  the  professional  preparation  of  all  candidates  for  elementary  teaching  beyond  the 
primary  grades  is  adequately  accomplished  by  a  single  undifferentiated  curriculum. 
This  point  of  view  has  undoubtedly  been  determined  largely  by  factors  that  are  pri- 
marily administrative  in  their  character.  The  immature  and  inexperienced  teachers 
entering  graded  school  systems  have  been  assigned  first  to  the  middle  grades,  particu- 
larly to  the  third  and  fourth.  Those  who  are  successful  here,  and  who  remain  in  the 
system,  have  been  fairly  certain  of  "promotion"  to  the  first  grade  or  to  the  upper 
grades.  The  specialization  of  preparation  for  primary  work  has  modified  this  situation 
in  some  measure,  altho  teachers  who  have  not  had  this  specialized  preparation  are 
still  frequently  transferred  from  the  intermediate  to  the  primary  grades.  In  general, 
however,  the  middle  grades  have  come  to  be  looked  upon  as  the  training  ground  of 
the  novice,  and  in  consequence  any  proposal  to  differentiate  as  between  intermediate 
grade  teachers  and  tipper  grade  teachers  in  the  construction  of  normal  school  curricula 
runs  sharply  counter  to  an  administrative  practice  that  has  developed  to  a  point  where 
it  is  virtually  "taken  for  granted."" 

The  extent  to  which  this  situation  must  be  considered  in  any  discussion  of  profes- 
sional curricula  is  made  plain  in  the  statistics  showing  the  distribution  of  teachers  in 
the  various  elementary  grades  in  respect  to  age,  experience,  and  salary.  Tables  pre- 
sented in  the  report1  of  the  Illinois  School  Survey,  based  upon  data  from  £670  teachers 
in  the  graded  town  and  city  elementary  schools  of  the  state,  indicate  that  the  median 
age  of  teachers  in  the  lower  intermediate  grades  is  ten  years  lower  than  the  median 
age  of  upper  grade  teachers  (VII  and  VIII)  and  two  years  lower  than  the  median  age 
of  teachers  in  the  primary  grades  (I  and  II).  Furthermore  the  median  age  of  teachers 
in  the  higher  intermediate  grades  (V  and  VI),  while  somewhat  above  that  of  third 
grade  and  fourth  grade  teachers  and  of  the  primary  teachers,  is  still  significantly  lower 
than  that  of  the  upper  grade  teachers.  Corresponding  differences  exist  among  these 
groups  in  respect  to  experience  and  present  salary.2 

The  situation  in  Missouri  is  not  essentially  different.  The  following  table,  for  ex- 
ample, shows  a  clear  tendency  in  both  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  to  place  the  more 
immature  and  inexperienced  teachers  in  the  middle  grades,  reserving  the  primary  and 
upper  grades  for  the  teachers  who  have  served  their  apprenticeship  and  demonstrated 
their  fitness  for  what  are  looked  upon  as  the  more  difficult  and  more  responsible  types 
of  work: 

1  The  Illinois  School  Survey,  Bloommgton,  1917,  pages  11T  £f. 

2  The  comparisons  are  shown  in  the  following?  table ; 

Teachers  in  Rooms  Median  Median  Years  Median 

representing  Grades  Age  Experience  Salary 

I,  I  and  II,  II                                                       28  9  $576-$625 

II  and  III,  III,  III  and  IV                                 26  6                          526-576 

IV,IVandV,V                                                 26  7                           576-625 

V  and  VI,  VI,  VI  and  VII                                   80  10                            626-675 

VII,  VII  and  VIII,  VIII  36  15                           676-725 


DIFFERENTIATION 


155 


Grade 

Kindergarten 
1st  grade 
3d  grade 
3d  grade 
4th  grade 
5th  grade 
6th  grade 
Tth  grade 
8th  grade1 


Median  Age  of 
Teachers 
St.  Louis    Kansas  City 

35 

28 

31 

36 

26 

25 

26 

26 

26 

28 

29 

33 

30 

36 

31 

40 

41 

i 

Median  Years 

Experience 
St.  Louis    Kansas  City 

12  4 

10(  +  )  14 

8  8 

6  8 

7  10 
10      13 


Salary  Range 
Middle  60%  of  Teachers 
St.  Louis       Kansas  City 


$801-$1000 
751-  1100  701-  1000 
751-  1100  751-  1000 
751-  1100 
951-  1100 


801-  1000 
901-  1000 
951-  1000 


20 


18 

i 


951-  1100 
951-  1200  1001-  1050 
1001-  1300      1 


MENTAL  AND  PHYSICAL  CONSIDERATIONS  WABRANT  DIFFERENTIATION 

We  have  referred  to  administrative  expediency  as  the  primary  factor  determining 
this  anomalous  position  of  the  intermediate  grades.  Certainly  educational  principles 
could  hardly  be  advanced  in  its  support.  The  mental  and  physical  characteristics  of 
children  between  the  ages  of  eight  and  twelve  differentiate  this  period  sharply  both 
from  the  preceding  school  period,  between  the  ages  of  six  and  eight,  and  from  the 
following  period  of  adolescence,  and  clearly  indicate  that  the  educational  treatment  of 
children  during  these  years  involves  specialized  problems  that  should  not  be  confused 
with  the  problems  of  either  early  childhood  or  adolescence.  This  conclusion  is  cer- 
tainly justified  by  the  evidence  already  available,  altho  in  general  the  period  has  been 
almost  as  seriously  neglected  in  theory  and  in  investigation  as  in  school  practice. 

The  work  of  the  elementary  school,  as  at  present  constituted,  therefore,  falls  into 
three  well-marked  divisions,  each  coinciding  with  fairly  definite  "nodes"  in  the  men- 
tal and  physical  development  of  the  child.  One  should  no  more  expect  identity  in  the 
qualifications  needed  for  success  in  teaching  the  fourth  grade  and  the  eighth  grade,  or 
the  third  grade  and  the  seventh  grade,  than  one  expects  identity  in  the  qualifications 
requisite  for  success  in  primary  teaching  and  eighth  grade  teaching,  or  for  success  in 
sixth  grade  teaching  and  high  school  teaching.  The  differences  involved  are  neither 
superficial  nor  negligible;  they  are  vital  distinctions  that  inhere  in  the  very  nature 
of  child  development  itself,  and  should  be  recognized  by  specific  treatment  in  cur- 
ricula constructed  for  the  purpose.  This  done,  the  present  practice  of  recruiting  the 
upper  grade  positions  from  the  ranks  of  successful  intermediate  grade  teachers  would 
necessarily  be  abandoned.  Intermediate  grade  work  would  acquire,  the  same  dignity 
and  status  as  a  recognized  field  for  specialization  that  primary  work  and  upper  grade 
work  already  enjoy.  The  upper  grade  positions  would  be  filled  by  the  appointment 
of  normal  school  graduates  who  had  similarly  made  a  special  study  of  upper  grade 
problems,  and  the  marked  discrepancies  as  to  age,  salary,  and  experience  between 
eighth  grade  teachers  and  intermediate  grade  teachers  would  disappear. 


*  The  elementary  schools  of  Kansas  City  do  not  include  the  eighth  grrade,  and  the  sixthand  seventh  grades  become 
in  consequence  the  "upper  grades." 


156  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

OBJECTIONS  TO  DIFFERENTIATION 

The  arguments  against  this  extension  of  the  principle  of  differentiation  deserve  seri- 
ous consideration.  Many  will  urge  that  it  would  be  disadvantageous  as  compared  with 
the  present  arrangement  in  that  mature  and  experienced  teachers  now  in  charge  of  the 
upper  grades  would  give  place  to  immature  and  inexperienced  teachers  who  would 
much  better  start  with  the  third,  fourth,  or  fifth  grades  and  then  work  up  into  the 
more  responsible  positions.  But  it  is  this  assumption  that  the  higher  grades  are  essen- 
tially more  responsible  positions  that  does  the  mischief.  Certainly  there  would  seem 
to  be  little  justification  for  the  fact  that  the  eighth  grade  teachers  in  St.  Louis  are  as 
a  group  fifteen  years  older  than  intermediate  grade  teachers,  and  have  back  of  them 
twice  the  experience  of  the  latter  group,  unless  it  is  that  these  older  and  more  expe- 
rienced teachers  are  needed  at  the  end  of  the  elementary  school  course  in  order  to  cor- 
rect the  defects  due  to  less  expert  teaching  in  the  middle  grades.1  The  provision  of  spe- 
cific curricula  for  the  preparation  of  intermediate  grade  teachers,  by  placing  the  work 
of  these  grades  upon  a  professional  basis,  would  tend  to  correct  this  condition,  just  as 
specific  curricula  for  upper  grade  teaching  would  largely  offset  the  lack  of  experience 
on  the  part  of  young  teachers  there. 

CHOICE  OF  SEEVICE  DIFFICULT 

A  second  argument  against  the  proposal  to  specialize  intermediate  grade  teaching 
emphasizes  the  difficulty  of  making  a  choice  among  different  types  of  service  at  or 
near  the  beginning  of  the  normal  school  training.  Students  fresh  from  the  high  schools, 
it  is  urged,  will  have  but  small  basis  for  determining  whether  they  are  best  fitted 
for  one  or  another  of  the  three  types  of  elementary  service.  This  objection,  however, 
loses  much  of  its  force  when  it  is  recalled  that  the  principle  of  differentiated  training 
is  already  accepted.  In  entering  many  normal  schools  now,  students  must  decide 
between  the  curriculum  for  primary  teachers  and  the  general  curriculum  represent- 
ing the  remaining  grades  of  the  elementary  school,  and  students  commit  themselves 
to  high  school  work,  and  make  their  decisions  regarding  the  subject  or  subjects  of 
special  study,  long  before  they  have  tried  themselves  in  practice.  In  these  cases  there 
is  little  evidence  that  this  necessity  of  making  a  choice  fairly  early  in  the  period  of 
professional  training  works  hardships  that  are  in  any  sense  commensurate  with  the 
advantages  that  inhere  in  specific  preparation  for  a  relatively  narrow  range  of  ser- 
vice. Finally,  an  institution  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  may  well  provide  for  a 
term  or  a  semester  of  common  courses  before  differentiation  begins,  thus  enabling 
the  school  to  enlighten  the  student  as  to  the  character  of  the  differentiated  curricula, 
and  otherwise  to  help  him  in  making  a  wise  choice. 


1  It  should  be  remembered  that  few  eighth  grade  teachers  in  St.  Louis  have  administrative  responsibilities;  practi- 
cally all  schools  are  in  charge  of  supervising  principals. 


DIFFERENTIATION  157 

TOO  SPECIALIZED 

A  third  objection  to  the  proposal  is  based  upon  the  advantage  of  having  every 
teacher  of  the  elementary  school  somewhat  familiar  with  the  work  of  all  grades.  This 
advantage  is  not  to  be  questioned,  but  as  an  argument  it  holds  against  the  differen- 
tiations already  recognized  just  as  strongly  as  it  would  hold  against  the  proposed 
additional  differentiations.  It  remains  a  stubborn  fact  that  two  years1  time  is  totally 
insufficient  to  give  a  teacher  adequate  preparation  for  teaching  at  every  point  in  the 
elementary  system.  A  teacher  can  in  that  time,  however,  acquire  a  reasonable  facility  in 
handling  two  or  three  grades  well.  If  by  subsequent  extension  courses,  or  better  by  pro- 
longed initial  training,  more  can  be  done,  it  is  doubtless  desirable  to  extend  a  teach- 
er's practical  knowledge  over  a  considerable  range.  Even  so,  it  is  a  serious  question 
whether  the  entire  elementary  field  is  not  altogether  too  large  for  the  random  prac- 
tice of  one  person,  however  well  trained.  The  superintendent  who  desires  that  a  novice 
be  trained  for  all  the  grades  is  looking  for  an  administrative  convenience  coached  to 
"fit  in"  anywhere  at  once  and  expected  to  acquire  real  training  thru  experience.  He 
has  no  idea  of  utilizing  the  teacher's  practical  versatility  after  she  is  once  placed,  hence 
her  varied  training  does  little  to  offset  the  lack  of  intensive  acquaintance  with  her  real 
work.  The  need  at  present  in  every  case  is,  first,  for  courses  common  to  all  specialized 
curricula,  dealing  with  the  organization  of  the  public  school  system  as  a  complete  edu- 
cational unit,  and,  second,  for  an  especial  effort  in  the  construction  of  each  specialized 
curriculum  to  give  the  prospective  teacher  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  grades 
immediately  preceding  and  following  those  in  which  the  chief  service  is  expected  to 
lie.  A  primary  teachers"  curriculum,  for  example,  should  provide  for  a  study  of  third 
grade  and  fourth  grade  problems  as  well  as  for  a  more  detailed  study  of  the  work  of 
the  kindergarten,  the  first  grade,  and  the  second  grade;  the  intermediate  curriculum, 
while  emphasizing  the  specific  problems  of  the  third,  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  grades, 
should  also  furnish  the  student  with  a  perspective  of  the  primary  and  upper  grade 
programs;  and  the  upper  grade  curriculum  should  neglect  neither  intermediate  grade 
work  nor  plinth  grade  work.  But  these  overlappings  should  be  designed  in  every  case 
for  the  especial  purpose  of  enlightenment;  they  should  not  be  expected  to  furnish 
practical  efficiency  in  the  additional  grades, — a  result  to  be  sought  only  in  longer 
training. 

DIFFICUMT  OF  ADJUSTING  SUPPLY  AND  DEMAND 

A  fourth  and  final  objection  points  to  the  complicated  problem  of  supply  and 
demand,  and  asks  what  assurance  a  teacher  who  pursues  a  specialized  curriculum  will 
have  of  employment  in  his  chosen  field.  Again,  this  argument  would  not  affect  the 
proposed  differentiations  any  more  than  it  affects  those  now  existing,  unless  it  be  as- 
sumed that  the  upper  grade  curriculum  will  attract  a  disproportionate  number  of  can- 
didates, and  that  intermediate  grade  teaching  will  always  be  the  least  attractive.  There 
is,  however,  every  reason  to  believe  that  a  curriculum  that  really  dignifies  the  work  of 


158  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

the  intermediate  grades  will,  with  the  gradual  equalization  of  rewards,  attract  its  due 
proportion  of  candidates,  and  that  the  initial  difficulties  which  may  be  involved  in 
the  present  lack  of  recognition  will  be  offset  largely  by  the  more  numerous  opportuni- 
ties for  appointment.  It  should  be  said,  further,  that  any  system  of  highly  differen- 
tiated curricula  implies,  both  in  the  schools  and  in  the  state's  department  of  educa- 
tion, a  knowledge  and  control  alike  of  candidates  and  of  available  teaching  positions 
considerably  more  complete  than  is  now  the  case.  Needs  of  individual  schools  and  of 
the  state  as  a  whole  should  be  followed  with  sufficient  care  to  enable  the  several  train- 
ing agencies  to  estimate  with  fair  exactness  about  how  many  teachers  of  each  type  will 
be  required  in  a  given  year.  This  information  can  be  obtained  by  any  state,  and  if 
properly  utilized  would  reduce  the  inequalities  of  supply  and  demand  to  a  minimum. 

CHARACTER  AND  EXTENT  OF  LEGITIMATE  DIFFERENTIATION  OF  TRAINING 

A  brief  reference  may  be  made  to  the  type  of  differentiation  desirable  in  these 
specialized  curricula  for  intermediate  grade  teachers.  Following  the  suggestions  made 
above1  with  regard  to  the  organization  of  subject-matter  courses  for  prospective 
teachers,  the  first  distinct  need  in  the  intermediate  grade  curriculum  is  for  courses 
that  represent  on  the  collegiate  level  the  specific  subjects  of  the  intermediate  pro- 
gram. That  most  of  these  subjects  differ  considerably  in  materials  and  methods  of 
presentation  from  corresponding  subjects  of  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades,  a  brief 
study  of  any  well-constructed  elementary  syllabus  will  quickly  reveal.  The  prepara- 
tion of  the  prospective  teacher  for  dealing  effectively  with  the  instruction  of  the  in- 
termediate grades  in  history,  for  example,  will  involve  an  acquaintance  particularly 
with  biographical  materials,  and  with  the  concrete  details  of  social  life  in  Greece  and 
Rome,  in  mediaeval  Europe,  in  England  of  the  sixteenth,  seventeenth,  and  eighteenth 
centuries,  and  in  colonial  America.  It  is  not  urged  that  the  teacher  should  know  only 
this  type  of  history,  but  inasmuch  as  the  history  taught  in  the  intermediate  grades 
necessarily  makes  the  largest  use  of  materials  of  this  type,  the  teacher  of  these  grades 
should  "know"  history  from  this  point  of  view. 

Corresponding  differences  in  treatment  are  indicated  in  connection  with  the  teach- 
er's courses  in  geography.  The  intermediate  grade  teacher  needs  especially  wealth  and 
accuracy  of  concrete  information  concerning  the  environment  in  which  he  is  teaching 
in  order  that  he  may  lead  the  pupils  who  are  just  beginning  the  study  of  geography 
from  a  knowledge  of  familiar  things  to  an  understanding  of  what  is  remote;  and  while 
the  course  in  intermediate  geography  cannot  reflect  the  environment  of  every  com- 
munity in  which  the  graduates  of  the  school  will  teach,  it  can  train  the  student  in 
the  art  of  utilizing  many  types  of  environmental  materials  for  educative  purposes. 
Beyond  this  the  teacher  of  the  intermediate  grades  should  be  well  equipped  with 
accurate  and  concrete  knowledge  concerning  the  various  peoples  of  the  world,  and 
especially  concerning  domestic  customs  and  child  life.  The  upper  grade  teacher,  on 

1  See  pages  149  ff. 


DIFFERENTIATION  159 

the  other  hand,  will  have  to  undertake  a  more  thoroughly  systematized  presentation 
of  geographical  materials  in  which  causal  relationships  find  an  important  place;  his 
preparation,  then,  will  place  the  heavier  emphasis  upon  commercial  and  industrial 
geography,  with  especial  attention  to  the  fundamental  principles  that  form  the  im- 
portant geographical  "  controls." 

In  respect  to  arithmetic,  the  features  that  distinguish  the  two  fields  from  each 
other  are  confined  chiefly  to  methods  of  teaching  and  concrete  applications.  It  is, 
indeed,  in  the  organization  of  materials  for  teaching  that  the  differentiations  in  all 
of  the  subject-matter  courses  will  be  most  sharply  drawn.  The  distinctions  should  not 
be  rigid  or  artificial.  Some  courses  may  be  profitably  considered  as  constants  in  all 
curricula  for  teachers;  other  courses  may  be  offered  to  combined  sections,  or  at  least 
without  necessary  segregation,  for  a  part  of  the  time,  grouping  students  according 
to  their  different  curricula  only  whenever  specialized  treatment  becomes  essential. 
With  a  limited  purpose  clearly  fixed,  significant  elements  of  differentiation  will  be 
suggested  in  abundance  by  further  study  of  the  distinctive  characteristics  of  children 
at  the  various  stages  of  elementary  education.  It  is  expert  familiarity  with  these  finer 
traits  of  a  child's  development  and  ability  to  turn  them  to  his  advantage  that  marks 
the  professional  teacher. 

Curricula  so  diversified  as  those  that  have  been  suggested  must  naturally  be  more 
or  less  provisional ;  they  are,  however,  a  consistent  extension  of  a  movement  that  has 
in  its  inception  been  highly  beneficial.  The  single  curriculum  plan  has  been  appre- 
ciably modified  in  this  country  by  the  general  recognition  of  specialized  training  for 
primary  teachers.  This  movement  toward  differentiation  has  been  notably  successful 
in  raising  the  standards  and  enhancing  the  dignity  of  service  in  the  primary  grades, 
and  it  is  only  reasonable  to  assume  that  a  similar  specialization  of  the  other  clearly 
marked  divisions  of  elementary  teaching  will  have  an  analogous  effect. 

SPECIALIZED  PREPARATION  FOR  ADMINISTRATION 

The  lack  of  adequate  provisions  for  the  specific  preparation  of  superintendents  and 
principals  is  due  to  the  interplay  of  several  factors.  In  the  first  place  the  special- 
ized study  and  investigation  of  administrative  problems  is  a  recent  development, 
having  made  little  more  than  a  beginning  a  decade  ago.  The  materials  for  a  special- 
ized curriculum  have  therefore  been  meagre,  until  lately.  In  the  second  place,  the 
superintendency  itself  has  not  demanded  so  much  in  the  way  of  specialized  know- 
ledge as  in  the  way  of  personal  qualifications, — tact,  common-sense,  and  ability  to 
deal  with  men  and  women.  With  no  objective  methods  of  measuring  the  efficiency 
of  a  school  or  a  school  system,  the  real  professional  qualifications  of  the  adminis- 
trative officer  were  matters  that  could  not  be  clearly  defined  or  emphasized.  In  the 
third  place,  and  largely  as  a  consequence  of  these  two  factors,  the  tenure  of  the  su- 
perintendency has  been  and  still  is  most  insecure.  The  "  life  "  of  the  average  super- 
intendent of  schools  in  the  Middle  West  in  so  far  as  continuous  service  in  any  one 


160  CURRICULA  :  OUTSTANDING  PROBLEMS 

community  is  concerned  was  computed  in  1914  to  be  four  years.1  The  present  study 
of  conditions  in  Missouri  shows  that  the  typical  superintendent  in  1915  had  at  the 
age  of  thirty-six  served  as  superintendent  in  two  different  towns  or  cities,  including 
the  one  then  employing  him,  and  that  the  average  of  the  periods  of  continuous  ser- 
vice was  three  years.2 

The  conditions  that  have  kept  school  administration  from  a  true  professional 
status,  however,  are  rapidly  passing.  The  applications  of  statistical  methods  to  the 
analysis  of  complicated  problems  of  gradation  and  promotion  of  pupils,  retardation 
and  elimination,  the  rating  of  teachers,  and  the  measurement  of  achievements  in 
school  subjects,  as  well  as  the  gratifying  advances  in  school  sanitation,  school  ac- 
counting, and  the  wider  use  of  the  school  plant,  have  resulted  in  a  large  and  essen- 
tial body  of  knowledge  already  available  for  specific  administrative  courses.  Such 
courses  are  now  among  the  most  important  offerings  of  university  departments  and 
schools  of  education,  but  their  organization  with  other  types  of  material  into  formal 
curricula  has  not  as  yet  been  seriously  attempted.  The  preparation  of  school  admin- 
istrators has  made  rapid  progress  within  the  past  five  years,  but  the  progress  has 
been  confined  chiefly  to  passing  on  the  fruits  of  these  recent  developments  to  super- 
intendents and  principals  already  engaged  in  supervisory  work.  Curricula  that  will 
formulate  the  strictly  professional  training  of  men  and  women  for  this  work  before 
they  assume  supervisory  positions  seem  to  be  the  next  step  in  this  development. 

SPECIALIZED  PREPARATION  FOB  RURAL  SCHOOL  TEACHERS 

Specialized  curricula  for  rural  school  teachers  are  not  uncommon  in  American 
normal  schools,  but,  as  has  been  suggested,  the  differentiation  has  been  determined 
largely  by  the  need  of  preparing  immature  students  for  temporary  service  in  this 
field  rather  than  by  a  recognition  of  the  field  itself  as  worthy  of  extended,  special- 
ized treatment.  In  Missouri,  for  example,  the  "rural-certificate  course"  in  the  normal 
schools  is  offered  only  on  the  secondary  level.  Indeed,  the  students  of  collegiate  rank 
who  are  preparing  for  rural  school  teaching  in  the  normal  schools  of  the  United 
States  would  probably  not  number  five  hundred  all  told,  — yet  the  rural  school  ser- 
vice itself,  according  to  the  Commissioner  of  Education,  requires  more  than  one  hun- 
dred thousand  recruits  each  year ! 

The  neglect  by  the  normal  schools  of  serious  preparation  for  rural  school  teaching 
is  due  primarily,  of  course,  to  the  low  status  to  which  the  rural  school  is  at  present 
assigned.  It  is  inconceivable  that  the  schools  in  which  more  than  one-half  of  the  na- 
tion's children  receive  all  of  their  schooling  will  be  permitted  to  continue  upon  this 
low  level  of  efficiency.  When  the  people  awaken  to  the  fact  that  a  large  proportion 

1  From  an  unpublished  study  of  590  superintendents  by  E.  L.  Lawson  at  the  University  of  Illinois. 

2  These  figures  are  for  one  hundred  forty-three  superintendents  in  systems  having  first  class  high  schools.  In  sys- 
tems with  second  class  schools  the  typical  superintendent  was  thirty-four  years  old,  and  had  held  but  one  position 
for  two  years.  In  systems  with  third  class  schools  he  was  thirty  years  old  and  had  held  two  positions  for  one  year 
each. 


CURRICULA  AS  WHOLES  161 

of  the  illiteracy  and  other  evidences  of  educational  deficiency  revealed  by  the  army 
tests  is  due  first  and  last  to  the  weakness  of  the  rural  school,  they  will  quickly  find 
a  means  of  remedying  the  situation.  Whatever  remedy  they  adopt  will  depend  for  its 
efficiency  upon  securing  a  mature,  well-prepared,  and  relatively  permanent  body  of 
teachers  for  the  rural  service.  The  cost  of  such  a  reform  will  be  negligible  in  compari- 
son with  the  benefits  involved. 

For  the  preparation  of  such  teachers,  the  normal  schools  should  even  now  begin  to 
offer  carefully  constructed  curricula,  coordinate  in  every  way  with  the  curricula  for 
urban  teachers.  This  would  mean  curricula  that  are  based  upon  graduation  from  a 
four-year  high  school,  and  that  require  for  completion  at  least  two  full  years  of  resi- 
dence. Even  a  period  of  this  length  is  all  too  brief  for  a  preparation  that  should 
be  at  once  broader  and  more  intensive  than  that  required  of  teachers  in  the  graded 
elementary  school  or  the  urban  high  school.  Two  years,  therefore,  should  be  but  a 
temporary  minimum.  Ultimately,  as  has  been  suggested  in  an  earlier  section,  the 
preparation  of  the  rural  school  teachers,  like  the  preparation  of  urban  elementary 
teachers,  should  comprise  not  less  than  four  years  of  specialized  work  beyond  high 
school  graduation. 


B.  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA  IN  THE  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 
CITY  TRAINING  SCHOOLS  OF  MISSOURI 

1.  Curricula  as  Wholes 
a.  GENERAL  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  CURRICULA 

It  would  be  unjust  to  criticise  in  a  captious  spirit  the  normal  schools  either  of 
Missouri  or  of  the  country  at  large  for  failing  to  meet  the  ideals  and  standards  set 
forth  in  the  preceding  pages.  Generally  speaking,  those  responsible  for  normal  school 
development  have  sincerely  and  devotedly  struggled  to  ensure  from  the  meagre  appro- 
priations made  for  their  institutions  the  largest  possible  service  to  the  people.  Dif- 
ferences of  opinion  have  naturally  arisen  as  to  the  specific  type  of  service  that  would 
be  most  valuable.  Some  normal  schools  have  centred  their  efforts  on  improving  the 
teaching  in  the  lower  schools,  and  they  have  consistently  held  to  this  as  their  func- 
tion. Other  normal  schools  have  considered  it  their  chief  duty  to  assist  in  as  many 
ways  as  possible  the  individual  students  who  have  come  to  them  for  instruction. 

PERSONAL  WELFARE  OF  THE  STUDENT  PLACED  ABOVE  NEEDS  OF  THE  SERVICE 

Institutions  of  the  latter  type  have,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  placed  the  wel- 
fare of  the  individual  above  the  welfare  of  the  teaching  service  which  the  student 
is  presumably  to  enter.  They  have  recognized,  effectually  if  not  explicitly,  that  this 
service  upon  its  lower  levels  does  not  offer  attractive  opportunities  for  a  life  career. 
They  have  accepted  the  estimate  that  the  public  itself  has  placed  upon  public  service 


162  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

in  the  elementary  schools,  and  especially  in  the  rural  schools,  when  it  permits  these 
fields  to  remain  barren  of  attractive  rewards,  open  to  low  grade  teaching  ability,  and 
subject  to  the  waste  and  inefficiency  that  go  with  the  brief  tenure  of  the  average 
teacher.  Forsaking,  therefore,  the  demands  of  the  service  engaging  their  students, 
these  schools  have  devoted  themselves  frankly  to  providing  the  education  that  would 
give  the  students  the  careers  they  sought,  relying  on  the  theory  that  the  person  with 
the  greatest  amount  of  general  education  would  of  necessity  prove  to  be  the  best 
teacher, 

Any  criticisms  of  the  normal  school  for  neglecting  or  belittling  the  field  of  elemen- 
tary teaching  should  take  into  account  this  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  public.  But 
after  giving  to  this  factor  all  of  the  consideration  that  it  deserves,  there  still  remains 
a  conviction  that  these  schools  have  acquiesced  too  readily  in  a  situation  the  transfor- 
mation of  which  one  might  justly  assume  to  be  their  duty.  It  is  their  failure  to  assert 
themselves  in  behalf  of  the  massive  but  inchoate  elementary  and  rural  school  systems 
that  strikes  one  most  forcibly.  They  have  been  content  to  follow  the  tide  of  public 
opinion  rather  than  to  assume  a  position  of  leadership  in  moulding  and  directing  that 
opinion.  There  is  an  unmistakable  note  of  weakness  in  the  following-  extract  from  a 
letter  written  by  the  president  of  a  large  middle  western  normal  school  concerning  the 
suggestion  that  the  normal  school  faculties  throughout  the  country  might  profitably 
cooperate  in  the  construction  of  something  approaching  "standardized"  normal  school 
curricula : 

"I  may  be  wrong  but  I  think  these  problems  should  be  settled  by  the  legisla- 
tures and  by  the  people  thru  the  common  school  demands  more  than  by  any  com- 
mittee of  faculties  or  experts  that  may  be  organized.  Our  present  legislature  is  re- 
modeling in  some  respects  our  educational  system.  This  school  will  be  compelled 
to  follow  that  remodeling  in  every  particular  if  our  graduates  are  to  be  recog- 
nized and  accepted  in  the  service  that  the  state  expects." 

That  a  normal  school  supported  by  the  state  must  obey  the  mandates  of  the  people 
as  expressed  thru  the  legislature  goes  without  saying.  But  it  is  quite  as  true  that  it 
should  have  had  a  very  considerable  hand  in  inspiring  and  formulating  those  man- 
dates. 

"LADDER  OF  PROMOTION"  IK  MISSOURI  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

The  state  normal  schools  of  Missouri,  considered  as  a  group,  have  followed  the  indi- 
vidualistic policy.  The  general  scheme  of  curriculum  organization  that  was  formally 
adopted  by  a  conference  of  the  normal  school  presidents  in  1914,  tho  actually  in  use 
for  many  years  preceding,  is  based  upon  the  assumption  that  many,  if  not  most,  of  the 
students  will  not  undertake  two,  three,  or  four  consecutive  years  of  study,  but  will 
rather  remain  in  residence  for  a  relatively  brief  period, — perhaps  a  term,  perhaps  a 
year, — then  teach  for  a  year  or  two,  return  to  the  school  for  another  period  of  study, 
again  teach,  and  repeat  this  alternation  until  the  desired  certificate  has  been  obtained, 


CURRICULA  AS  WHOLES  163 

or  until  the  ambition  to  continue  study  has  died  away.1  In  order  to  meet  the  demands 
of  this  numerous  group  of  students,  the  several  curricula  are  so  arranged  as  to  form 
a  stairway  from  which  one  may  gradually  pass  from  rural  school  teaching  to  graded 
school  teaching,  and  thence  to  high  school  teaching,  or  to  supervisory  work.  The  vari- 
ous "curricula"  and  the  "advancement"  that  each  offers  over  its  predecessor  are  indi- 
cated in  the  following  diagram: 

(The  120-hour  curriculum, 
preparing  for  administra- 
tive and  supervisory  as 
well  as  high  school  posi- 
tions and  leading  to  the 
bachelor's  degree 

/The  90-hour  curriculum, 
Third  College  Year  \  preparing  for  teaching  in 
(high  schools 

{The  60-hour  curriculum, 
preparing  for  teaching  in 
graded  schools  and  small 
high  schools 

(The  30-hour  curriculum ; 
a  professional  curriculum 
on  the  collegiate  level, 
preparing  for  teaching  in 
rural  schools  and  graded 
schools 

The  "Rural  Certificate'^ 
course, — a  general  high 
school  curriculum,   with 
certain    professional 
courses  in  the  third  and 
fourth  years.  Prepares  for 
rural  school  teaching       , 

It  is  evident  that  this  ladder-like  organization  of  the  curricula  is  of  very  great  ad- 
vantage to  the  ambitious  student  who  is  unable  to  pursue  his  studies  for  four  con- 
secutive years.  It  not  only  incites  him  to  a  gradual  and  progressive  accumulation  of 
credits,  but  it  definitely  "motivates"  each  successive  stage  of  advancement  in  that 
each  curriculum  increment  when  completed  will  both  provide  the  means  of  earning 
k  money  for  further  schooling  and  also  pave  the  way  educationally  for  the  next  step. 

EFFECT  UPON  THE  SCHOOLS  UNFOKTITNATE 

But  while  the  arrangement  may  be  advantageous  to  the  individual  student,  its  ulti- 
mate consequences  to  the  public  schools  are  not  so  fortunate.  It  deliberately  makes 
the  service  of  teaching  on  the  earlier  age  levels  and  grade  levels  a  means  of  promotion 
to  the  later  age  and  grade  levels.  Furthermore,  each  unit  of  study  must  aim  to  fulfil 

1  For  example,  the  Cape  Girardeau  catalogue  (1916,  pages  29  ftO'says  apropos  of  the  thirty-hour  curriculum: 

"  This  curriculum  is  arranged  to  equip  students  who  cannot  complete  enough  work  for  graduation  with  a  suffi- 
cient preparation  to  enable  them  to  teach  acceptably  in  public  schools  until  they  can  continue  their  work  to  pre- 
pare them  better  for  teaching." 


-  Four-Tear  Secondary  Curriculum 


164  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

two  functions,  (a)  prepare  the  student  to  teach  upon  one  of  the  earlier  teaching  levels, 
and  (6)  prepare  him  for  advanced  study  in  a  quite  different  field.  One  or  the  other  of 
these  functions  will  inevitably  be  neglected.  Certainly,  preparation  for  high  school 
teaching  is  not  adequately  encompassed  by  adding  one  or  two  years  to  a  curriculum 
that  is  planned  primarily  for  elementary  school  teaching,  nor  is  it  clear  that  the  best 
preparation  for  elementary  teaching  is  that  which,  with  one  or  two  added  years,  will 
be  the  best  preparation  for  high  school  teaching.  Admirably  adapted  tho  the  plan  may 
be  to  promote  the  interests  of  certain  individuals,  it  seems  indefensible  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  welfare  and  progress  of  the  public  school  service. 

This  general  tendency  of  the  Missouri  curricula  to  emphasize  the  needs  of  the 
individual  student  at  the  expense  of  the  service  appears  clearly  upon  a  more  minute 
analysis  of  the  arrangement  of  courses  and  the  content  of  the  various  units  of  study 
that  comprise  the  sevei*al  curricula.  For  convenience,  this  analysis  will  deal  first  with 
the  secondary  curriculum  and  then  with  the  four  curricula  of  collegiate  grade. 

5.  SECONDARY  CURRICULUM  LEADING  TO  THE  RURAL  CERTIFICATE 

Each  of  the  state  normal  schools  of  Missouri  offers  at  least  one  secondary  curric- 
ulum of  a  professional  character.  This  "Rural  Certificate  Course,1"  which  in  its  main 
features  is  now  common  to  the  five  schools,  requires  the  completion  of  sixteen  units  of 
secondary  work.  It  was  agreed  upon  at  a  conference  of  the  normal  school  presidents 
and  the  state  superintendent  of  public  instruction  in  June,  1916,  and  its  provisions 
went  into  effect  on  January  1,  1917.  A  curriculum  calling  for  at  least  two  years  of 
professional  work  above  the  elementary  school  had  been  offered  since  1910.  At  most 
of  the  schools  this  had  gradually  been  extended  to  three  years,  or  twelve  secondary 
units.  The  increase  of  the  requirement  to  sixteen  units  is  consequently  to  be  looked 
upon  as  a  forward  step.  The  new  sixteen-unit  curriculum  was  made  practically  identi- 
cal with  the  curriculum  for  the  high  school  teacher-training  classes  which  had  been 
established  and  subsidized  in  1913.  Its  essential  features  are  as  follows:1 

"  I .  The  following  academic  subj  ects  will  be  required :  English,  three  units.  Math- 
ematics, two  units  (including  arithmetic,  algebra,  and  geometry).  Agriculture, 
one  unit.  High  School  Science,  one  unit  (including  biology,  physics  or  physical 
geography).  History,  two  units  (one  of  which  must  be  American  history  and  gov- 
ernment). Industrial  and  Fine  Arts,  one  unit. 

*&  The  following  professional  studies  will  be  required: 
"(a)  Subject-matter  of  the  common  branches,  with  emphasis  upon  method, 

one  unit. 
"(6)  The  psychology  of  learning,  or  elementary  psychology,  one- third  unit; 

rural  school  problems,2  one-third  unit;  school  management,2  one- third 

unit  (in  all  one  unit). 
u(c)  Methods  and  observation,  one  unit. 

1  State  Report,  1916,  page  342. 

2  The  names  of  these  courses  do  not  agree  with  the  uniform  terminology  adopted  by  the  Conference.  See  page  173. 


CURRICULA  AS  WHOLES  165 

"3.  In  addition,  three  electives,  among  which  farm  accounts,  bookkeeping,  short- 
hand and  typewriting,  geography  of  commerce,  general  science,  chemistry,  do- 
mestic science,  domestic  art,  music,  and  physical  education  are  recommended. 

"4.  It  is  recommended  that  students  be  required  to  complete  eight  units  of  high 
school  credit  before  taking  any  of  the  professional  work."1 

CONTRADICTORY  AIMS 

A  teacher -training  curriculum  covering  four  years  of  secondary  work  may  be  con- 
structed upon  one  or  another  of  three  plans:  (1)  it  may  be  professionalized  from  the 
outset ;  (£)  it  may  preserve  the  essential  features  of  the  general  high  school  curriculum 
for  two  or  three  years,  reserving  the  third  and  fourth  years  or  the  fourth  year  alone 
for  concentrated  professional  work;  (3)  it  may  be  essentially  a  general  curriculum 
throughout,  introducing  "reviews"  and  other  professional  courses  wherever  conven- 
ient. At  first  glance,  the  above  curriculum  seems  to  follow  the  first  plan,  but  one 
is  immediately  led  to  ask  why,  if  the  curriculum  is  specifically  for  the  preparation 
of  rural  school  teachers,  such  subjects  as  bookkeeping,  shorthand,  and  typewriting 
should  be  recommended  as  electives,  with  the  possibility  of  giving  them  almost  as 
much  time  as  is  recommended  for  all  of  the  professional  work;  or  why  physical  train- 
ing is  elective  rather  than  prescribed ;  or  why  physiology  and  hygiene  are  neither 
elective  nor  prescribed. 

One  gains  the  impression  that  these  proposals  do  not  reflect  solely  the  needs  of  a 
curriculum  for  the  preparation  of  teachers.  Such  a  curriculum,  if  offered  on  the  sec- 
ondary level,  should  certainly  include  liberal  as  well  as  professional  courses;  there 
should  be  room  for  the  algebra,  the  geometry,  the  unit  of  history  over  and  above 
American  history,  and  the  unit  of  science  other  than  agriculture  —  altho  with  both 
history  and  science,  definite  prescriptions  would  seem  preferable  to  mere  quantitative 
provisions.  But  to  combine  in  one  curriculum  two  distinct  groups  of  vocational  ele- 
ments is  disconcerting.  By  no  stretch  of  the  imagination  can  bookkeeping,  shorthand, 
and  typewriting  be  thought  of  as  closely  related  to  rural  school  teaching,  nor  do  these 
subjects  possess  the  liberalizing  and  broadening  values  that  would  otherwise  justify 
their  inclusion. 

Trivial  as  it  may  seem,  a  situation  of  this  sort  is  significant  in  the  illustration  that 
it  affords  not  only  of  the  still  markedly  unprofessional  character  of  rural  school  teach- 

1  There  are  some  interesting  variations  among  the  five  schools  in  the  way  in  which  the  conference  suggestions  for 
the  rural  certificate  curriculum  are  administered.  Warrensburg  offers  only  21  units  of  electives,  but  otherwise  pro- 
vides a  curriculum  corresponding  closely  to  the  proposals  above  discussed.  Cape  Girardeau  recommends  3  units  of 
history  instead  of  2,  and  2  units  of  industrial  and  fine  arts  instead  of  1 ;  the  recommended  curriculum  at  Cape 
Girardeau,  therefore,  calls  for  the  completion  of  18  rather  than  16  units.  Springfield  reduces  the  electives  to  1|  units ; 
requires  3&  units  of  English,  instead  of  3;  2J  units  of  history,  instead  of  2;  and  1$  units  of  geography  and  1  unit 
of  physiology  and  physics.  The  Springfield  catalogue  declares  that  the  tabular  statement  of  the  curriculum  **  meets 
all  of  the  requirements  set  up  by  the  state  superintendent  and  is  what  we  think  is  the  best  possible  preparation 
for  teaching  in  rural  schools  that  can  be  made  in  a  four  years'  high  school  course. ..."  Maryville  offers  no  free  elec- 
tives, adds  J  unit  to  the  recommended  requirements  in  English,  history,  and  the  fine  and  industrial  arts,  and 
triples  the  requirements  in  science.  (Data  and  quotations  given  will  be  found  in  the  respective  catalogues  for  1917 
with  the  exception  of  Maryville,  for  which  the  catalogue  of  1916  was  used,  no  later  catalogue  having  been  published 
at  that  school.) 


166  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

ing,  but  again  of  the  tendency  of  the  normal  school  to  protect  the  individual  from 
attempting  to  make  a  career  in  a  field  that  offers  no  career.  In  effect  it  says  to  the 
student:  "Rural  school  teaching  is  a  thankless  job;  yet  it  may  be  made  a  stepping- 
stone  to  something  else.  We  advise  you,  while  preparing  for  it,  to  learn  stenography 
and  typewriting  in  case  something  better  should  turn  up  in  these  fields." 

SECONDARY  PROFESSIONAL  CURRICULA  SHOULD  BE  ABOLISHED 

The  present  rural  certificate  curriculum,  then,  altho  it  constitutes  in  many  respects 
a  distinct  advance  over  its  predecessors,  is  essentially  a  "compromise  measure,"  as  all 
attempts  to  construct  a  professional  curriculum  upon  a  purely  secondary  basis  are 
likely  to  be ;  compromises  as  between  the  claims  of  general  and  vocational  courses, 
or  compromises  among  various  types  of  vocational  opportunity.  As  set  forth  else- 
where,1 there  should  soon  be  no  place  for  professional  study  on  the  secondary  level, 
and  no  need  for  making  a  choice  of  a  profession  before  the  high  school  course  has  been 
completed.  The  level  of  rural  school  teaching  can  and  should  be  raised  to  the  point 
where  certification  will  not  be  granted  for  this  work  unless  the  candidate  has  had 
some  professional  training  beyond  the  high  school.  But  the  normal  schools  should 
not  wait  for  this  advance  in  the  standards  of  certification  before  they  abandon  their 
secondary  professional  courses.  They  have  made  a  notable  step  forward  in  placing  the 
rural  certificate  curriculum  upon  a  four-year  basis,  and  in  recommending  that  no  pro- 
fessional courses  in  this  curriculum  be  taken  before  the  third  year,  thus  providing 
for  the  professional  studies  a  background  of  at  least  eight  units  of  general  secondary 
preparation.  It  would  be  advisable  immediately  to  require  twelve  units  of  secondary 
work  as  a  basis  for  these  studies,  thus  concentrating  all  of  the  professional  work  in 
the  fourth  year  and  giving  this  year  exclusively  to  the  professional  work.  Then  at  a 
definitely  stated  time, — say  19S3, — the  professional  courses  could  be  advanced  still 
another  year,  placing  them  upon  a  fully  collegiate  basis.  Another  advance  should 
make  two  years  of  professional  work  beyond  the  high  school  an  irreducible  minimum 
of  preparation  for  the  serious  responsibilities  of  rural  school  teaching,  and  ulti- 
mately, when  far  better  salaries  can  be  paid  to  elementary  teachers,  all  curricula  should 
be  extended  to  four  years. 

c.  COLLEGIATE  CURRICULA  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

It  will  be  recalled  that  the  four  collegiate  curricula  of  the  state  normal  schools 
constitute  an  educational  ladder  in  that  each  curriculum  prepares  for  its  successor 
while  at  the  same  time  it  provides  professional  training  and  recognition  in  the  form 
of  a  certificate  which  may  enable  the  student  to  teach  until  he  has  saved  enough 
money  to  go  on  with  his  normal  school  work.  The  necessities  that  this  general  pol- 
icy imposes  on  the  school  in  the  detailed  organization  of  its  collegiate  curricula  are 
clearly  apparent  in  the  paucity  of  prescriptions  and  the  abundance  of  elective  privi- 

1  See  pages  128  ff. 


CURRICULA  AS  WHOLES  167 

leges,  even  in  the  curricula  that  cover  only  one  or  two  years.  The  tabular  summary 
which  follows  suggests  the  lengths  to  which  this  scheme  of  elections  is  carried,  as 
well  as  the  variations  among  the  several  schools ;  the  data  are  summarized  from  the 
catalogues  of  1917  (announcements  for  1917-18),  except  in  the  case  of  Maryville, 
where  the  catalogue  for  1916  was  used. 

Kirksmlle  Warrensburg  Cape  Gfirardeau  Springfield  Marymlk 

Hours                Hours               Hours  Hours  Hours 
30-Hour  Curricula 

Specified  Courses                       10                       10                       18  10  20 

Restricted  Elections1                10 2                     —                        93  20  10* 

Free  Elections                          10                      206                      3  —  — 

60-Hour  Curricula 

Specified  Courses  15  20  24  32|7  40 

Restricted  Elections1  37J  17J  24  25  — 

Free  Elections  TJ  m*  12  2*7  20 

90-Hour  Curricula 

Specified  Courses  17|  25  26  42i7 

Restricted  Elections1  42J  47 J  52  45 

Free  Elections  30  17J  12                        %¥ 

120-Hour  Curricula 

Specified  Courses  1TJ  25  34  42J7  45 

Restricted  Elections1  47J  42J  78  75  60 

Free  Elections  55  524  8  2JT  15 

NOT  TRUE  CURRICULA 

It  is  clear  that  the  groupings  of  studies  in  all  of  the  schools  except  Springfield  are 
not  curricula  in  the  true  sense  of  the  term;  they  are  rather  large  program  patterns 
from  which  individual  curricula  may  be  constructed.  This  plan  of  organization  again 
expresses  the  tendency  of  the  normal  schools  to  consider  first  the  desires  of  the  indi- 
vidual student  rather  than  the  needs  of  the  service.  It  is,  of  course,  conceivable  that 
there  is  no  inconsistency  between  these  two  considerations  and  that  a  plan  which  aims 
primarily  to  do  the  "best  for  the  individual"  will  also  be  of  the  largest  value  to  the 
service.  In  order  to  determine  whether  this  position  is  justified,  it  is  necessary  to  ex- 
amine some  of  the  individual  curricula  that  are  actually  constructed  by  students  from 
the  materials  provided  by  such  programs.9  Ten  illustrative  programs  are  reproduced 

1  Including:  options  and  systems  of  majors  and  minors. 

3  Five  hours  elective  in  group  of  subjects  requiring  no  preparation  outside  of  class ;  five  hours  in  education. 

*  Choice  of  six  semester  hours  of  science. 

4  Electives  must  include  stated  courses  in  music,  physical  education,  drawing-,  penmanship,  and  manual  arts. 

6  Not  more  than  five  hours  in  technical  subjects ;  two  and  one-half  hours  in  agriculture  if  it  has  not  been  taken  in 
high  school. 

*  Not  more  than  ten  hours  in  technical  subjects. 

7  Two  and  one-half  hours  listed  as  freely  elective  for  upper  grade  and  rural  teachers  are  specified  for  primary  and 
lower  grade  teachers. 

*  No  90-hour  curriculum  is  listed  in  the  catalogue. 

*  The  actual  curricula  of  individual  students  collected  in  the  course  of  the  present  study  represent  a  period  prior 
to  the  adoption  of  the  plan  that  has  been  outlined  above,  but  the  plan  in  operation  in  some  of  the  normal  schools 
for  ten  years  prior  to  1915  was  substantially  identical  with  the  present  plan  in  so  far  as  the  relative  proportions  of 


168  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

in  the  Appendix.1  They  are  fairly  typical  of  the  way  in  which  the  elective  system  has 
actually  worked  in  practice  in  three  of  the  normal  schools. 

EXISTING  "CURJUGULA""  NOT  PROFESSIONAL 

The  lack  of  coherence  and  interrelationship  of  courses  in  these  illustrative  programs 
is  not  their  chief  defect.  Only  in  an  incidental  or  casual  sense  could  they  be  called 
professional  programs.  In  almost  every  case  the  selection  of  courses  has  been  deter- 
mined apparently  without  the  slightest  regard  to  what  the  clearly  predictable  needs 
of  the  teaching  situation  will  be.  Under  this  policy,  it  is  impossible  to  speak  of  a 
"professional  curriculum/'  for  what  results  is  merely  a  miscellany  of  general  studies, 
put  together  in  a  haphazard  fashion,  with  a  few  courses  in  educational  theory  and 
practice  introduced  where  they  will  most  conveniently  "fit  in." 

This  detachment  of  the  so-called  "professional"  work,  indeed,  constitutes  a  striking 
weakness  in  efforts  to  provide  professional  preparation  for  teachers,  not  only  in  the 
Missouri  normal  schools,  but  in  the  colleges  and  universities  and  in  nearly  all  nor- 
mal schools  that  are  organized  on  the  collegiate  model.  The  notion  that  an  adequate 
professional  curriculum  for  teachers  can  be  formed  by  adding  a  requirement  in  "  edu- 
cation" to  a  "general  college  course"  is  thoroughly  fallacious;  and  when  only  group 
requirements  are  made,  permitting  students  to  choose  practically  any  courses  that 
they  please,  provided  only  that  such  courses  appear  under  the  name  " education,"  it  is 
a  travesty  to  speak  of  "professional  preparation."  The  Missouri  normal  schools,  hap- 
pily, have  not  gone  so  far  as  this,  but  the  options  that  some  of  the  schools  permitted 
in  respect  to  certain  educational  courses  at  the  time  when  the  study  was  begun  showed 
a  clear  tendency  to  extend  the  loose  elective  principle  even  to  the  strictly  profes- 
sional work.2  This  tendency  has,  in  part,  been  corrected  since  1915. 

prescribed  and  elective  courses  are  concerned;  hence  individual  curricula  made  up  during  these  years  may  legiti- 
mately serve  to  illustrate  the  tendencies  of  the  general  policy.  It  should  be  added,  however,  that  all  of  the  schools 
have  shown  a  tendency  since  1915  to  reduce  the  free  electives  in  some  measure,  to  increase  the  restricted  electives, 
and,  less  noticeably,  to  increase  the  prescribed  studies.  Springfield,  indeed,  has  moved  significantly  toward  a  system 
of  differentiated  curricula,  each  made  up  largely  of  prescribed  courses. 

1  See  page  411. 

2  Two  examples  from  the  catalogues  for  1916  may  serve  to  illustrate  this  tendency: 

At  Kirksville  only  ten  hours  of  "strictly  professional"  work  were  actually  prescribed  for  the  sixty-hour  diploma : 
these  hours  were  distributed  as  follows :  two  and  one-half  in  psychology,  two  and  one-half  in  history  of  education, 
and  five  in  practice  teaching.  In  addition,  five  semester  hours  were  to  be  chosen  from  four  two  and  one-half  hour 
courses:  principles  of  teaching,  school  economy  (school  management),  rural  sociology,  and  the  school  curriculum. 

The  principle  justifying  the  options  is  not  obvious.  The  courses  in  principles  of  teaching  and  school  economy  are 
really  complementary  courses,  the  one  dealing  with  the  technique  of  instruction,  the  other  with  the  details  of  ad- 
ministration in  so  far  as  these  are  matters  of  concern  for  the  classroom  teacher.  The  normal  school  student  needs 
both  of  these  courses.  Again,  rural  sociology  should  certainly  be  a  requirement  in  all  curricula  looking  toward  rural 
school  teaching,  but  it  is  in  no  sense  equivalent  either  to  the  course  in  the  technique  of  teaching  or  to  the  course 
in  management.  The  work  offered  in  the  course  entitled  "The  school  curriculum,"  as  outlined  in  the  catalogue,  is 
far  too  extensive  to  permit  of  adequate  treatment  in  the  time  allotted  to  it,  and  even  if  the  course  were  abbrevi- 
ated in  content  or  expanded  in  time,  it  could  scarcely  serve  as  a  substitute  for  the  courses  in  technique. 

At  Cape  Girardeau,  the  actual  prescriptions  in  professional  subjects  for  the  sixty-hour  diploma  involved  approxi- 
mately fifteen  semester  hours  of  work,  including  four  hours  of  psychology,  two  hours  of  principles  of  teaching,  six 
hours  of  practice  teaching,  and  two  hours  of  experimental  pedagogy.  But  choices  were  to  be  made  among  additional 
professional  courses  until  a  total  of  approximately  twenty-five  hours  had  been  completed.  These  choices  were  be- 
tween educational  psychology  and  experimental  child  study,  or  between  the  history  of  education  and  experimen- 
tal child  study.  Again  the  justification  of  these  particular  options  is  not  clear.  There  are  no  two  groups  of  teachers, 
one  of  which  needs  a  knowledge  of  experimental  child  study  to  the  exclusion  of  educational  psychology,  and  the 


CURRICULA  AS  WHOLES  169 

d.  CURRICULA  OF  THE  CITY  TRAINING  SCHOOLS 

In  striking  contrast  with  the  curriculum  policy  of  the  state  normal  schools  of 
Missouri  is  that  of  the  city  training  schools.  The  latter,  it  should  be  remembered,  are 
institutions  of  collegiate  grade  only;  that  is,  their  enrolment  is  limited  to  high  school 
graduates.  Each  offers  two-year  curricula  that  are  comparable  in  point  of  entrance 
and  residence  requirements  to  the  sixty-hour  curricula  of  the  state  normal  schools. 
But  the  resemblance  ends  here.  The  training-school  curricula  are  prescribed  from 
the  outset,  and  they  emphasize  the  intensive  study  of  the  subjects  that  the  students 
will  later  be  called  upon  to  teach.  The  sharp  differences  between  these  truly  profes- 
sional curricula  and  the  programs  of  the  normal  schools  may  be  seen  by  contrasting 
the  individual  programs  above  referred  to  with  the  following  summary  of  one  of  the 
curricula  required  in  the  Harris  Teachers  College;  another  curriculum  from  St.  Louis 
and  one  from  the  Kansas  City  Training  School  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix.1 

THE  HARRIS  TEACHERS  COLLEGE  CURRICULUM  FOR  ELEMENTARY  TEACHERS.S 

First  semester:  Arithmetic  (5);3  Science  (2);  Geography  (4);  Hygiene  (1);  Drawing 
(4);  Primary  method  (£);  Gymnasium  (2);  Music  (£);  Penmanship  (£);  English  (2). 
Prepared  work,  16;  unprepared  work,  10.  Total,  £6. 

Second  semester:  Psychology  (5);  Science  (3);  United  States  history  and  civics  (4); 
English  (3);  Drawing  (£);  Reading  (1);  Gymnasium  (&);  Primary  (£);  Penmanship 
(1);  Music  (1);  Grammar-grade  observation  (2).  Prepared  work,  18;  unprepared  work, 
8.  Total,  26. 

Third  semester:  Apprentice  work  (full  time). 

Fourth  semester:  Theory  of  education  and  school  management  (5) ;  Child  psychol- 
ogy (3);  English  (4);  History  of  education  (1);  Educational  sociology  (3);  Drawing 
(£);  Music  (£);  Penmanship  (1);  Gymnasium  (1);  Geography  (J);  History  and  civics 
(|);  Arithmetic  (|);  Drawing  (J);  Music  (J);  Gymnasium  (J).  Total,  24 J. 

CONTRAST  BETWEEN  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  AND  CITY  TRAINING  SCHOOLS 

Why  do  these  two  types  of  institution  —  the  state  normal  schools  and  the  city  train- 
ing schools — reveal  such  striking  contrasts?  In  both  cases  the  typical  entering  stu- 
dent is  a  high  school  graduate,  looking  forward  to  two  years  of  professional  prepara- 
tion for  the  work  of  teaching,  and  in  so  far  as  these  two-year  students  are  concerned, 
both  types  of  schools  are  supposed  to  be  fitting  their  students  for  the  same  kind  of 
work — service  in  graded  elementary  schools.  Yet  we  find  the  means  of  effecting  this 
preparation  radically  different.  In  so  far  as  the  efficiency  of  the  preparation  is  con- 
other,  educational  psychology  to  the  exclusion  of  experimental  child  study ;  nor  are  there  two  groups  the  needs  of 
which  as  between  the  history  of  education  and  experimental  child  study  are  strikingly  differentiated. 

1  See  pages  417,  418. 

2  Report  of  the  St.  Louis  Board  of  Education  for  1908-09,  pages  53, 64.  Relatively  slight  changes  appear  in  a  mimeo- 
graphed syllabus  used  in  the  college  at  the  time  the  present  study  was  made.  These  are  included  in  the  above 
summary. 

8  Figures  indicate  semester  hours. 


170  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

cerned,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the  citj  training  schools,  by  concentrat- 
ing upon  a  single  objective,  turn  out  a  better  product.  They  are  enabled  thus  to  con- 
centrate their  energies  because  elementary  school  teaching  in  the  large  cities  offers 
rewards  which,  inadequate  tho  they  may  be  from  many  points  of  view,  are  still  suffi- 
ciently attractive  to  impel  high  school  graduates  to  look  upon  the  service  as  a  rela- 
tively permanent  occupation.  Outside  of  the  larger  cities,  however,  this  is  not  so  fre- 
quently the  case.  High  school  teaching  is  much  more  attractive  and  significantly  better 
paid ;  furthermore,  it  is  far  easier  of  access  than  in  the  large  cities.  Men  particularly 
will  not  be  contented  with  elementary  service,  and  when  they  undertake  normal  school 
work  they  are  not  often  thinking  of  teaching  in  the  elementary  school  or,  permanently, 
even  in  a  high  school.  As  has  been  suggested,  the  normal  schools  have  recognized  this 
situation,  and  have  adapted  their  courses  of  study  and  their  requirements  for  gradua- 
tion to  meet  the  wishes  of  the  individual  rather  than  the  needs  of  the  schools. 

NORMAL  SCHOOLS  HAVE  BELITTLED  ELEMENTARY  INSTRUCTION 

This  is  entirely  apart  from  the  question  as  to  whether  the  normal  schools  should 
aim  to  prepare  teachers  for  the  high  schools.  Under  the  present  organization  of  their 
curricula,  they  are  deliberately  encouraging  the  student  to  make  elementary  teach- 
ing, whether  in  rural  schools  or  in  graded  schools,  a  stepping-stone  to  high,  school 
teaching,  to  the  teaching  and  supervision  of  special  subjects,  arid  to  school  adminis- 
tration ;  and  this  rather  than  any  ambition  that  they  may  or  may  not  cherish  to  be 
recognized  as  competent  to  prepare  high  school  teachers,  or  to  become  "colleges," 
constitutes  the  most  serious  charge  against  them.  It  is  not  only  possible  but  quite  be- 
yond question  that  certain  normal  schools  may  profitably  undertake  the  preparation 
of  certain  types  of  high  school  teachers,  and  a  normal  school  which  offers  courses  of 
collegiate  grade  administered  consistently  with  recognized  standards  should  certainly 
rank  with  other  collegiate  institutions.  But  this  does  not  warrant  the  normal  school 
in  discrediting  elementary  service  in  the  emphasis  of  its  courses,  while  it  glorifies  that 
service  with  unction  in  public  discussion.  Nor  does  it  justify  it  in  surrendering  its  pre- 
rogatives as  a  professional  school.  The  strength  of  any  professional  school  lies  in  the 
fact  that  it  can  aim  at  a  definite  objective.  The  weakness  of  professional  adjuncts  to 
institutions  of  general  or  liberal  education  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  great  bulk  of  the 
work  cannot  be  coordinated  and  integrated  with  reference  to  a  definite  goal.  The 
normal  schools  of  Missouri  seem  quite  deliberately  to  have  chosen  the  weapons  of 
weakness  rather  than  the  weapons  of  strength.  They  have  adopted  the  loose  program 
of  studies  in  preference  to  the  compact,  unified  organization  of  real  curricula.  They 
have  professionalized  their  work  only  by  the  introduction  of  detached  courses  in  edu- 
cational theory, — comparable  in  every  way  to  the  makeshift  requirements  in  educa- 
tion thru  which  the  liberal-arts  colleges  have  sought  to  justify  their  claims  to  recogni- 
tion as  teacher-training  agencies;  and  no  more  than  these  arts  colleges  have  they 
attempted  to  professionalize  all  of  their  courses,  making  each  bear  with  its  full  force 


CURRICULA  AS  WHOLES  171 

upon  the  central  problem  of  teaching.  The  normal  schools  of  this  type  have  been  fol- 
lowers rather  than  leaders.  They  have  vehemently  asserted  their  "rights/5  but  they 
have  failed  to  justify  their  independent  existence  by  adapting  themselves  throughout 
to  their  peculiar  task.  They  have  been  imitators,  and  imitators  of  something  that  is 
weak  rather  than  of  something  that  is  strong. 

The  city  training  schools,  on  the  other  hand,  have  escaped  these  pitfalls,  perhaps 
in  large  measure  because  they  have  been  under  no  appreciable  pressure  to  build  up 
large  enrolments,  and  consequently  have  not  been  tempted  to  lose  sight  of  the  ser- 
vice in  efforts  to  meet  individual  needs  and  thereby  attract  students.  The  service 
itself,  too,  has  been  much  closer  to  the  city  training  schools  than  to  the  normal  schools ; 
they  are  themselves  part  and  parcel  of  it;  and  any  shortcomings  in  their  methods 
or  courses  are  likely  to  be  disclosed  quickly  and  effectively.  With  less  temptation  to 
scatter  their  energies,  with  a  constant  check  upon  their  work,  and  under  the  stimulus 
of  a  direct  responsibility  for  doing  one  thing  well,  they  have  been  impelled  to  focus 
their  efforts  upon  a  central  problem.  Where  they  have  been  well  supported  and  well 
staffed,  as  in  St.  Louis,  their  superiority  to  the  collegiate  type  of  state  normal  school 
cannot  be  successfully  disputed. 

THE  CITY  TRAINING  SCHOOLS  MISS  THEIR  FULL  OPPORTUNITY 

This  is  far  from  saying,  however,  that  the  training  schools  are  without  their  weak- 
nesses, or  that  their  curricula,  while  unquestionably  better  adapted  to  their  purpose 
than  are  the  inchoate  programs  of  the  normal  schools,  are  as  satisfactory  as  might  rea- 
sonably be  expected.  If  the  normal  schools  have  chafed  under  the  low  public  estimate 
accorded  to  elementary  teaching,  and  have  expressed  their  irritation  by  effectually 
pointing  their  students  away  from  the  lower  schools,  the  city  training  schools  have 
perhaps  been  too  ready  to  accept  the  subordinate  position  of  the  service  for  which 
they  prepare.  They  have  adopted  a  professional  attitude  in  the  construction  of  their 
curricula,  but  they  have  not  fully  professionalized  their  policies.  Not  only  in  St.  Louis 
and  Kansas  City,  but  in  most  of  the  city  training  schools  of  the  country,  a  single, 
undifferentiated  two-year  curriculum  is  deemed  sufficient  to  equip  the  student  with 
the  great  variety  of  skills  and  insights  involved  in  efficient  teaching  during  all  of  the 
first  eight  school  years.  This  single  curriculum,  it  is  true,  usually  reflects  the  actual 
materials  of  the  elementary  program,  and  this  is  most  commendable;  but  the  time  is 
so  short  and  the  field  is  so  wide  that  these  materials  cannot  be  covered  in  a  thorough- 
going way,  and  with  the  ramifications  and  extensions  that  are  essential  if  the  courses 
are  to  meet  the  standards  suggested  in  the  earlier  sections  of  the  present  report. 
There  are  many,  especially  among  the  workers  in  the  state  schools,  who  oppose  the 
type  of  curriculum  required  in  St.  Louis  on  the  theory  that  the  work  of  the  teacher 
will  ultimately  be  much  more  efficient  if  the  training  curriculum  includes  some  courses 
of  a  more  advanced  and  more  distinctly  " academic"  or  "general"  character.  This 
criticism  is  justified  if  the  courses  required  in  the  training  school  are  merely  or  mainly 


172  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

"review"  courses;  but  the  criticism  loses  its  point  when  such  courses,  while  dealing 
with  elementary  subjects,  treat  those  subjects  broadly  and  deeply.  This  cannot  be 
done  successfully  in  a  two-year  curriculum  that  covers  the  entire  field  of  elementary 
teaching.  The  attempt  to  do  so  is  as  successful  in  St.  Louis  as  the  circumstances 
permit,  but  a  longer  curriculum  or  differentiated  curricula,  or  both,  are  necessary 
to  attain  the  best  results. 

If,  then,  the  normal  schools  of  the  collegiate  type  have  tended  to  make  elementary 
teaching  a  stage  preparatory  to  high  school  teaching,  and  have  consequently  accen- 
tuated the  unfortunate  distinctions  of  the  teaching  service,  it  can  be  said  with  equal 
truth  that  the  training  schools  with  their  narrower  field,  with  every  chance  to  pro- 
fessionalize and  dignify  all  grades  and  levels  of  elementary  instruction,  have  fallen 
short  of  their  opportunities.  After  all,  whatever  may  be  the  excuses  for  the  failure 
of  the  normal  schools  to  raise  appropriately  the  character  and  status  of  elementary 
teaching,  the  excuses  for  the  failure  of  the  training  school  to  do  this  are  less  con- 
vincing. There  are  few  large  cities  to-day  that  could  not  successfully  demand  a  three- 
year  training-school  curriculum  from  the  graduates  of  their  local  high  schools  who 
wish  to  become  elementary  teachers.  The  training  school  knows  full  well  the  diffi- 
culty of  preparing  teachers  in  a  shorter  time,  and  it  should  take  the  initiative  and 
exercise  the  leadership  in  bringing  about  this  extension  of  the  training  period.  For 
the  same  reason  the  city  training  school  should  be  the  first  to  adopt  a  policy  of  dif- 
ferentiated curricula  that  will  ensure  a  fair  mastery  of  a  restricted  field  as  a  basis 
for  an  expanding  training  in  elementary  instruction.  Neither  the  normal  schools  nor 
the  city  training  schools  can  come  into  their  own  until  they  stand  firm,  not  upon 
their  right  to  rank  with  colleges  (a  right  which  they  should  take  for  granted),  but 
rather  upon  the  right  of  the  elementary  teaching  service  to  rank  with  other  types  of 
teaching  service,  and,  what  is  much  more  fundamental,  upon  the  right  of  every  child 
at  every  level  of  his  instruction  to  have  a  teacher  especially  trained  to  meet  the  pe- 
culiar problems  of  that  particular  period. 

%.  Organization  and  Content  of  Specific  Courses 

The  preceding  section  dealt  with  the  organization  of  curricula  as  wholes.  We  have 
now  to  consider  the  specific  courses  that  make  up  these  large  units.  The  emphasis 
will  be  primarily  upon  the  so-called  "professional"  courses,  inasmuch  as  it  is  thru 
these  at  the  present  time  that  the  professional  purpose  of  the  teacher- training  in- 
stitutions is  chiefly  expressed.  The  principal  courses  will  be  analyzed  with  the  aim  of 
determining  what  function  each  is  intended  to  discharge  under  the  theories  now 
apparently  governing  curriculum  organization  in  the  Missouri  schools.  An  attempt 
will  then  be  made  to  evaluate  this  purpose  or  function  in  the  light  of  the  principles 
or  standards  laid  down  in  the  preceding  discussions. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  SECONDARY  173 

a.  PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  OF  SECONDARY  GRADE 

The  professional  courses  recommended  by  the  conference  of  19161  for  the  rural 
certificate  curriculum  are  the  following: 

(1)  Subject-matter  of  the  common  school  branches  with  emphasis  upon  method, 

one  unit  (or  one-fourth  of  a  full  year's  work). 
(£)  Psychology  of  learning  or  elementary  psychology,  one- third  of  a  unit  (or 

one-twelfth  of  a  full  year's  work). 

(3)  Rural  life  problems,  one-third  of  a  unit. 

(4)  Rural  school  management,  one-third  of  a  unit. 

(5)  Methods  and  observation,  one  unit. 

According  to  the  conference  agreement,  no  one  of  these  courses  is  to  be  elected  until 
at  least  eight  units  (two  years)  of  secondary  work  have  been  completed.  The  proposals, 
therefore,  contemplate  three  units,  or  three-fourths  of  a  year,  of  professional  study 
distributed  over  the  last  two  years  of  the  secondary  curriculum.  The  advantages  of 
concentrating  this  work  in  the  fourth  year  and  later  of  amplifying  it  and  transferring 
it  to  a  fifth  graduate  year  have  been  pointed  out  in  the  preceding  section.2  We  are 
concerned  here  only  with  the  purpose  and  content  of  these  professional  courses,  and 
with  their  pertinence  to  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  the  rural  schools. 

(1)  SUBJECT-MATTER  OF  THE  COMMON  SCHOOL  BRANCHES  WITH  EMPHASIS  UPON  METHOD 
The  conference  did  well  to  place  this  course  first  in  the  list,  thereby  implying  that 
it  will  be  the  first  professional  work  that  the  pupil  undertakes.  The  time  allowed  for 
it — five  periods  a  week  for  a  year — is  too  brief,  but  it  is  as  long  as  a  professional 
curriculum  on  the  secondary  level  can  well  afford.  Then,  too,  certain  phases  of  ele- 
mentary subject-matter  are  represented  in  the  general  high  school  courses,  especially 
the  courses  in  English  and  in  American  history  and  civics,  which  are  recommended 
as  a  basis  for  the  professional  work.  "Methods  and  observation""  covers  the  same 
ground  also  from  a  somewhat  different  point  of  view. 

In  the  high  school  training-classes,  the  course  in  elementary  subject-matter  is 
taught  by  the  training  teacher,  and  consequently  is  treated  as  a  unit  course,  with 
a  tendency,  no  doubt,  to  distribute  the  time  and  emphasis  over  the  various  topics 
as  the  needs  of  the  class  may  demand.  In  the  normal  schools  the  work  is  covered  in 
separate  courses,  each  extending  over  a  period  of  twelve  weeks,  and  each  limited  to  a 
single  subject,  as  arithmetic,  grammar,  or  geography.  While  the  training-class  stu- 
dent will  have  instruction  in  all  of  the  important  subjects  of  the  elementary  program, 
the  normal  school  student  will  have  instruction  in  only  three  subjects  at  most. 

CONCENTRATION  AND  UNIFORM  TREATMENT  NEEDED 

The  normal  schools  vary  considerably  in  their  offerings  and  requirements.  In  gen- 
eral, the  chief  emphasis  is  upon  the  relatively  advanced  phases  of  the  subject-mat- 

1  The  conference  of  heads  of  Missouri  training:  institutions  described  on  pages  62  and  164, 

2  See  page  166. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

ter — those  phases  that  are  most  clearly  represented  in  the  seventh  grade  and  eighth 
grade  programs.  Where  the  work  in  elementary  subject-matter  is  parceled  out  among 
the  various  academic  departments,  this  emphasis  upon  upper  grade  topics  is  probably 
inevitable.  It  is  well  to  ask  whether  in  the  normal  schools  as  in  the  high  school  train- 
ing classes,  the  year's  work  in  elementary  subject-matter  and  methods  might  not  well 
be  assigned  to  one  teacher — a  person  who  is  familiar  not  only  with  the  subject-matter 
but  with  the  means  of  adapting  it  especially  to  the  primary  and  intermediate  grade 
pupils  who,  in  the  large  majority  of  cases,  will  form  the  chief  problems  of  the  rural 
school  teacher.  This  policy  of  making  the  work  a  unit  in  charge  of  a  single  teacher 
constitutes  one  of  the  marked  advantages  of  the  teacher-training  classes  and  one  of 
the  important  elements  of  their  strength.  It  might  even  be  advisable  so  to  organize 
the  course  that  twelve  weeks  will  be  given  to  primary  materials  and  methods,  twelve 
weeks  to  intermediate  grade  materials  and  methods,  and  twelve  weeks  to  upper  grade 
materials  and  methods;  or  if  not  this  equal  division,  at  least  an  organization  of  mate- 
rials that  explicitly  recognizes  these  three  divisions  of  school  life. 

(&)  THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  LEARNING 

According  to  the  recommendations  of  the  conference,  a  full  unit  is  devoted  to  what 
might  be  called  simple  educational  theory.  The  first  twelve  weeks  of  this  work  are 
given  to  an  elementary  course  in  educational  psychology.  Essentially  the  same  course 
was  given  in  some  of  the  normal  schools  prior  to  the  conference  agreement.  The  out- 
lines submitted  by  the  instructors  indicate  that  the  time  is  distributed  among  the 
various  topics  substantially  as  follows :  two  weeks  are  spent  in  the  study  of  conscious- 
ness and  its  relation  to  instinctive  and  acquired  modes  of  behavior;  a  half-week  to 
the  structure  of  the  nervous  system;  four  or  five  weeks  to  habits,  sensations  and  per- 
ceptions, imagination,  memory,  and  association ;  one  or  two  weeks  to  attention  and 
the  emotions;  and  about  two  weeks  to  economy  in  learning  and  a  brief  discussion  of 
the  higher  thought-processes.  The  educational  applications  of  each  of  these  topics  are 
naturally  given  a  strong  emphasis. 

It  is  obvious  that  a  course  of  this  sort  for  high  school  pupils,  limited  to  twelve  weeks, 
can  at  best  touch  the  problems  of  mental  growth  but  superficially.  There  is,  however, 
a  distinct  need  for  a  brief  course  introducing  the  student  to  the  concrete  problems  of 
teaching  and  giving  him  some  familiarity  with  the  simpler  principles  of  educational 
psychology.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  course  should  be  known  as  "psychology,"  for 
the  tendency  under  such  a  designation  is  toward  a  detached  and  formal  treatment. 
The  term  "Introduction  to  Teaching  "  suggests  more  clearly  both  the  purpose  of  the 
course  and  its  close  correlation  with  actual  schoolroom  practice. 

(3)  RURAL  LIFE  PROBLEMS 

Prior  to  the  conference  agreement,  most  of  the  normal  schools  offered  two  types  of 
courses  dealing  with  specific  rural  school  problems :  (a)  rural  school  methods  courses 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  SECONDARY  175 

that  usually  attempted  to  cover  in  twelve  weeks  not  only  rural  school  management 
but  also  the  methods  of  teaching  all  of  the  elementary  school  subjects,  —  an  obviously 
impossible  procedure;1  and  (b)  courses  in  "rural  life,"  that  were  concerned  largely 
with  the  broader  sociological  problems  of  rural  school  teaching.  With  the  adoption  of 
the  unit  of  "  subject-matter  and  methods "  and  the  unit  of  "observation  and  methods/' 
the  superficial  twelve- weeks  courses  were  abandoned,  and  the  older  "rural  life"  courses 
became  the  course  in  "rural  life  problems,"  This  was  an  improvement. 

The  courses  in  rural  life  problems  as  now  offered  in  the  normal  schools  still  vary  in 
scope  and  content,2  but  in  general,  their  development  during  the  past  three  or  four 
years  is  a  hopeful  sign  that  the  pressing  problems  of  rural  education  are  to  receive 
adequate  attention  in  the  normal  schools.  When  the  preparation  of  the  rural  school 
teacher  and  the  rewards  for  rural  school  teaching  are  placed  upon  the  same  basis  as 
the  preparation  and  rewards  for  teaching  in  town  and  city  schools,  there  will  be  no 
dearth  of  materials  for  constructing  a  rich  and  fruitful  curriculum  of  studies  dealing 
primarily  with  the  fundamental  problems  of  rural  life  and  education. 

(4)  RURAL  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

Another  forward  step  which  followed  the  conference  agreement  was  the  develop- 
ment of  specialized  courses  in  rural  school  management.  Earlier  courses  in  this  field 
were  not  clearly  differentiated  in  most  cases  from  the  courses  in  rural  life  problems,3 
and  prospective  rural  school  teachers  in  many  instances  gained  their  knowledge  of  the 
precepts  and  principles  of  management  in  the  collegiate  classes  which  dealt  primarily 
with  graded  school  problems.  At  the  present  time  (1917),  each  of  the  schools  offers  a 
separate  course  in  the  management  of  rural  schools.  It  deals  with  the  problems  that 
have  come  to  be  associated  with  collegiate  courses  in  school  management, — classifi- 
cation of  pupils,  construction  of  the  daily  program,  initiation  and  maintenance  of 

1  One  of  the  courses  found  in  the  spring  of  1915,  for  example,  gave  three  weeks  to  reading1,  two  weeks  to  language  and 
grammar,  and  one  week  to  each  of  the  following  subjects:  spelling,  arithmetic,  geography,  history  and  civics,  and 
agriculture.  Another  distributed  the  time  of  nine  weeks  among  the  following  topics:  child  study,  observation, 
applying  standards  of  criticism,  teaching  of  English  in  rural  schools,  teaching  of  history  and  geography  in  rural 
schools,  and  teaching  of  arithmetic  in  rural  schools, — each  of  these  topics  occupying  from  one  week  to  two  and  one- 
half  weeks.  The  class  taking  the  latter  course  represented  every  stage  of  educational  advancement  from  the  first 
high  school  year  to  the  fourth  college  year.  The  enrolment  as  reported  by  the  instructor  included  not  only  prospec- 
tive rural  school  teachers,  but  prospective  teachers  of  high  school  English  and  high  school  history.  A  third  course 
was  reported  by  the  instructor  as  including  a  treatment  of  "all  school  subjects:  English  including  reading,  spell- 
ing, penmanship,  arithmetic,  elementary  science,  history,  geography,  drawing  and  construction,  music."  This  course 
covered  twelve  weeks  1 

2  At  Warrensburg,  the  work  is  apparently  divided  between,  two  twelve-weeks  courses ;  one  (Rural  School  Methods) 
deals  with  the  teaching  of  the  elementary  school  subjects  in  such  a  way  that  the  primary  and  intermediate  grade 
problems  receive  the  chief  emphasis ;  the  other  is  a  more  general  course  dealing  with  personal  and  public  hygiene, 
play  and  recreation,  vocational  education,  boys*  and  girls*  club  work,  and  the  organization  of  the  community  for 
social  and  economic  purposes.  At  Kirksville,  the  requirements  recommended  by  the  conference  are  met  by  a  twelve- 
weeks  course  which  treats  of  the  changes  that  have  been  arid  are  now  taking  place  in  rural  life,  the  effect  of  these 
changes  upon  the  rural  school,  and  the  redirection  and  reorganization  of  rural  education.  The  course  at  Springfield 
closely  resembles  that  offered  at  Kirksville.  At  Cape  Girardeau,  the  course  is  somewhat  more  specifically  concerned 
with  the  operation  of  a  rural  school,  emphasizing  such  problems  as  the  school  plant,  consolidation,  the  school  as  a 
community  centre,  and  the  teacher  as  a  community  leader. 

8  A  course  offered  in  1916,  for  example,  dealt  with  such  topics  as  the  tenant  system  in  Missouri,  the  district  as  an 
administrative  unit,  the  condition  of  the  country  church  in  Missouri,  and  school  laws  regarding  county  and  state 
funds. 


176  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

routine,  marking  and  grading,  school  attendance,  and  discipline, — but  the  treatment 
is  guided  by  the  fact  that  the  student  is  preparing  for  work  in  one-room  schools. 
The  modification  is  fundamental,  for  a  one-room  school  presents  problems  quite  differ- 
ent from  those  of  the  graded  school.  Not  only  is  the  preparation  of  the  rural  school 
teacher  made  more  effective  by  this  procedure,  but  the  collegiate  courses,  relieved  of 
the  presence  of  secondary  pupils,  can  also  be  more  closely  concentrated  upon  the 
graded  school  problem. 

(5)  METHODS  AND  OBSERVATION 

A  marked  disadvantage  of  the  rural  certificate  curriculum  lies  in  the  fact  that  it 
makes  no  provision  for  practice  teaching.  The  nearest  approach  to  actual  contact 
with  the  teaching  situation  is  represented  by  the  course  in  observation.  The  descrip- 
tions of  this  course  that  appear  in  the  several  catalogues  arouse  suspicion  that  the 
work  is  largely  theoretical  and  consequently  subject  to  the  tendency  of  such  courses 
to  become  either  detached  and  abstract  or  purely  perfunctory.  Only  one  of  the  schools 
(Kirksville)  has  a  model  rural  school  that  can  be  used  for  observation.  As  the  training- 
school  facilities  in  all  of  the  normal  schools  are  so  meagre  that  all  or  most  of  the  teach- 
ing is  in  the  hands  of  practice  teachers,  one  may  infer  that  whatever  observation  is 
required  in  the  secondary  courses  is  likely  to  be  the  observation  of  practice  teachers. 

As  long  as  a  rural  certificate  curriculum  is  offered  upon  the  secondary  level,  every 
possible  step  should  be  taken  to  make  it  as  effective  as  possible.  This  cannot  be  done 
without  providing  in  some  way  for  practice  teaching,  and  the  requirement  of  a  full 
unit  for  "observation  and  methods"  should  certainly  include  participation  and  prac- 
tice teaching  as  well  as  observation.  To  give  time  for  these  activities,  some  of  the 
materials  dealing  systematically  with  "methods"  could  be  included  in  the  "subject- 
matter  and  methods"  course  discussed  above.  In  any  case,  an  appreciable  amount  of 
participation  and  practice  teaching  should  be  provided. 

SUCCESSFUL  PROCEDURE  IN  MINNESOTA 

The  plan  that  has  been  developed  in  the  high  school  training-classes  of  Minnesota 
suggests  a  standard  that  other  secondary  systems  of  teacher-training,  whether  in  high 
schools  or  normal  schools,  might  well  seek  to  attain.  According  to  this  plan,  one  period 
each  day,  practically  for  the  entire  year,  is  spent  by  the  training-class  student  in 
the  elementary  school.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year  two  weeks  are  given  to  close 
observation.  Then  each  student  takes  a  group  of  about  five  pupils  for  fifteen  minutes 
each  day,  the  teaching  being  limited  at  the  outset  to  very  simple  exercises,  prefer- 
ably of  the  "  drill "  type.  After  two  weeks  of  this  work,  the  training-class  spends  a 
week  in  visiting  and  observing  neighboring  rural  schools,  and  the  following  week  is 
devoted  to  a  discussion  of  these  visits.  With  this  preparation  the  more  intensive 
teaching  of  small  groups  in  the  local  graded  schools  is  begun  and  continued  for  three 
months.  Following  this,  two  months  are  spent  in  teaching  larger  groups,  and  then 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  COLLEGIATE  177 

two  weeks  in  actual  rural  school  teaching.  For  the  specific  purpose  of  providing  the 
students  with  experience  in  beginning  first  grade  work,  small  classes  are  organized 
toward  the  end  of  the  year  comprising  children  in  the  community  who  would  nor- 
mally enter  school  the  subsequent  fall.  Students  take  charge  of  the  classes  under  close 
supervision  and  work  with  them  for  eight  weeks. 

A  plan  of  this  sort  demands,  of  course,  an  abundance  of  "laboratory""  material,  and 
would  be  quite  impracticable  in  normal  schools  so  limited  in  this  respect  as  are  those 
of  Missouri.  The  high  school  training-classes,  with  their  relatively  small  enrolments 
and  their  abundance  of  local  practice  materials,  are  much  more  favorably  situated  in 
this  respect.  A  normal  school  suitably  located  with  a  number  of  the  schools  of  a  town 
or  city  under  its  control  could  readily  make  similar  arrangements.  In  any  case,  the 
normal  school,  wherever  located,  if  it  undertakes  the  preparation  of  rural  school 
teachers,  should  make  satisfactory  provisions  for  a  period  of  both  observation  and 
practice  in  neighboring  rural  schools. 

6.  PROFESSIONAL  CoUESES  OF  COLLEGIATE  GllADE1 

The  distinction  between  secondary  and  collegiate  courses  in  the  professional  study 
of  education  has  been  less  a  difference  in  the  names  and  materials  used  than  the  often 
more  important  difference  in  the  intellectual  experience  and  preparedness  of  the  stu- 
dent. The  same  is  true  of  other  subjects,  such  as  literature,  history,  economics,  and 
sociology;  the  materials  to  be  presented  bear  the  same  name  whether  offered  upon  the 
secondary  or  the  collegiate  level.  This  is  perhaps  one  reason  why  the  Missouri  normal 
schools  have  failed,  until  recently,  to  limit  registration  in  professional  courses  of  colle- 
giate grade  to  students  of  collegiate  standing,  and  have  thus  produced  courses  of  neu- 
tral hue  that  were  neither  collegiate  nor  secondary.  In  the  spring  of  1915,  twenty- 
three  out  of  fifty-one  collegiate  classes  in  strictly  professional  subjects  reported  a 
mixed  enrolment  representing  both  college  students  and  high  school  pupils.  The  prac- 
tice was  defended  on  the  ground  that  the  secondary  pupils  admitted  to  these  courses 
were  almost  always  mature  men  and  women  who  had  had  some  experience  in  teach- 
ing. As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  twenty-eight  per  cent  of  the  secondary  pupils  en- 
rolled in  these  classes  were  below  the  age  of  twenty,  the  proportion  of  immature  stu- 
dents in  the  mixed  classes  being  six  per  cent  higher  than  in  the  classes  that  were 
limited  to  bonajide  college  students.  Wide  variations  in  maturity  tend  to  accompany 
wide  variations  in  training,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  both  the  organization  of 
material  and  the  work  of  a  class,  the  members  of  which  vary  widely  as  to  training  and 
maturity,  will  suffer  in  comparison  with  that  of  a  homogeneous  group.2  It  is  gratify- 
ing to  note  that  the  Missouri  normal  schools  have  since  adopted  a  consistent  policy  of 

1  Conspectus  of  the  professional  courses  offered  in  the  fire  schools  during  the  year  1916-17  will  be  found  in  the  Ap- 
pendix, pages  40&411. 

2  The  range  of  ages  was  wide  in  both  groups  of  classes,  but  considerably  wider  in  the  mixed  classes  than  in  the 
classes  limited  to  college  students ;  the  average  age-range  of  the  former  group  was  nearly  nineteen  years  as  con- 
trasted with  fifteen  years,  the  average  age-range  of  the  latter  group. 


178  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

differentiating  collegiate  work  from  secondary  work  at  every  point.  With  this  policy 
established,  it  will  be  much  easier  to  enforce  prerequisites  and  to  raise  the  standards 
of  professional  courses. 

INTER-SCHOOL  VARIATIONS 

The  variations  in  the  amount  and  character  of  the  professional  work  actually  re- 
quired in  the  several  schools  are  interesting  in  the  light  that  they  throw  upon  the 
general  theory  under  which  the  curricula  are  organized  and  administered.  Of  strictly 
professional  courses  of  collegiate  grade,  five  may  be  recognized  as  constituting  a  fairly 
well  standardized  equipment  for  the  prospective  teacher:  (1)  psychology;  ($)  the  his- 
tory of  education;  (3)  general  method  or  principles  of  teaching;  (4)  school  manage- 
ment, sometimes  designated  as  "school  economy11  or  as  "school  administration;"  and 
(5)  observation,  participation,  and  practice  teaching.  Not  all  of  these  subjects  are  re- 
quired by  each  of  the  normal  schools,  but  two  or  more  of  them  are  among  the  require- 
ments of  every  collegiate  curriculum.1  Psychology,  general  method  or  principles  of 
teaching,  and  practice  teaching  are  required  by  all  of  the  schools  for  the  sixty-hour, 
or  two-year,  curriculum.  At  Kirksville,  Warrensburg,  and  Springfield,  two  and  one- 
half  semester  hours  of  psychology  are  demanded;  at  Mary  ville,  this  amount  is  doubled; 
while  at  Cape  Girardeau,  four  semester  hours  are  deemed  sufficient,  altho  two  sem- 
ester hours  of  child  study  have  recently  been  added  to  the  prescribed  studies.  In 
practice  teaching  the  requirement  of  five  semester  hours  or  the  equivalent  is  uniform 
among  the  five  schools.  A  course  in  the  history  of  education  and  a  course  in  school 
management  are  required  in  four  of  the  schools.  These  are  commonly  offered  for  two 
and  one-half  semester  hours. 

(1)  PSYCHOLOGY 
INTRODUCTORY  COURSE 

The  introductory  course  in  psychology  in  the  Missouri  normal  schools  is  "general" 
in  its  character;  that  is,  it  attempts  to  give  the  student  a  systematic  account  of  the 
science  as  it  has  been  developed  by  the  pure  psychologist.  In  this  respect  it  differs 
from  the  secondary  course  referred  to  in  the  preceding  section.2  The  latter,  it  will  be 
remembered,  is  usually  designated  as  "educational  psychology,"  and  lays  its  strongest 
emphases  upon  the  topics  that  are  most  closely  related  to  the  art  of  teaching.  The 
general  and  systematic  character  of  the  collegiate  course  is  shown  both  in  the  text- 
books that  are  employed  and  in  the  outlines  of  courses  furnished  by  the  instructors 
in  charge  of  classes.3 

1  With  the  exception  of  the  general  college  curriculum  at  Cape  Girardeau,  which  may  be  completed  without  any 

professional  courses  whatsoever. 

*  See  page  174. 

9  It  was  also  fully  substantiated  by  what  was  seen  in  the  classes  visited  during  the  spring  of  1916.  In  one  of  these 

classes,  the  first  part  of  the  hour  was  spent  in  discussing  the  anatomy  of  the  retina,  and  the  remaining  time  was 

given  to  the  phenomena  of  color-mixing,  both  topics  that  could  profitably  be  dismissed  with  a  brief  reference  and 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PSYCHOLOGY  179 

The  course  is  apparently  conceived  by  most  of  the  normal  school  teachers  of  the 
subject  as  furnishing  the  student  with  an  introduction  to  psychological  study  for  its 
own  sake,  rather  than  as  a  "practical"  course  dealing  with  facts  and  principles  directly 
applicable  to  the  problems  of  teaching,  or  as  an  "orienting"  course  furnishing  an  ini- 
tial view  of  the  problems  of  teaching  and  learning.  The  course  follows  the  college 
model  with  fair  fidelity. 

ADVANCED  COURSES  IN  PSYCHOLOGY 

In  making  the  introductory  course  in  psychology  "general"  in  its  scope'and  char- 
acter, the  normal  schools  have  not  been  unmindful  of  the  applied  phases  of  the  sub- 
ject. In  most  of  the  schools  advanced  courses  are  offered,  and  these  almost  always 
deal  with  pedagogical  applications.  In  the  state  schools,  however,  with  two  excep- 
tions, this  advanced  work  is  either  elective  or  alternative  in  so  far  as  the  two-year  cur- 
ricula are  concerned;  and  consequently  it  is  not  generally  undertaken  by  a  considerable 
proportion  of  the  students.1  The  two  exceptions  are  Springfield  and  Cape  Girardeau, 
both  of  which  require  a  course  in  child  study  in  the  two-year  curricula. 

As  with  many  of  the  other  "professional"  subjects,  the  value  of  psychology  in  the 
preparation  of  teachers  has  been  seriously  questioned.  This  skepticism  has  been  due 
in  part,  at  least,  to  the  formal  and  general  character  of  the  courses  that  are  usually 
required.  The  systematic  study  of  psychology  as  a  "pure"  science  undoubtedly  has 
a  place  in  some  certain  normal  school  curricula.  Its  function,  however,  is  not  prima- 
rily that  of  a  propaedeutic  to  the  detailed  study  of  the  teaching  process.  It  certainly 
does  not  constitute  a  body  of  theory  that  may  be  passed  on  to  the  beginning  stu- 
dent in  the  hope  that  he  will  be  able  to  deduce  from  its  principles  and  postulates 
the  rules  and  precepts  of  successful  practice. 

TEACHING  LESS  AN  APPLIED  SCIENCE  THAN  A  FINE  ART 

The  traditional  organization  of  teacher- training  curricula  seems  to  rest  upon  the 
assumption  that  teaching  is,  or  at  least  may  ultimately  become,  an  applied  science, 
analogous  in  every  essential  respect  to  medicine,  engineering,  and  agriculture;  and, 
consequently,  that  adequate  preparation  for  teaching  is  first  to  lay  down  the  general 
principles  and  then  to  apply  them  to  the  concrete  teaching  situation.  This  assumption 
would  make  the  study  of  psychology  in  the  normal  school  analogous  to  the  study 

might  even  be  entirely  dispensed  with  in  an  introductory  normal  school  course.  Another  class  spent  the  hour  In 
discussing  the  definitions  of  psychology  proposed  by  Ladd  and  Stout;  the  assignment  for  the  following  day  in- 
volved the  problem — "How  does  psychological  analysis  differ  from  physical  analysis  ?"  The  instructor  was  skilful 
in  directing  the  discussion  of  the  rather  immature  students  thru  these  highly  theoretical  topics,  but  it  seemed 
hardly  a  profitable  use  of  one  out  of  only  sixty  recitation  periods  given  to*  the  entire  course,  A  third  class  was  deal- 
ing in  an  abstract  way  with  the  practical  problem  of  training  memory.  The  attention  was  well  sustained,  however, 
and  the  hour's  work  no  doubt  yielded  a  profit.  The  discussion  gradually  led  to  the  statement  of  two  problems 
which  formed  the  assignment  for  the  following  day :  *  *  What  constitutes  a  *natural  relationship '  ?  "  and  * '  Are  logical 
relationships  natural  relationships?" 

1  For  example,  in  the  spring  of  1916,  in  Kirksville,  there  were  2T  students  in  one  of  the  two  sections  in  general  psy- 
chology as  against  12  students  in  the  only  other  psychological  course  offered  to  students  of  collegiate  grade. 


180  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

of  physiology  in  the  medical  school,  the  study  of  theoretical  mechanics  in  the  en- 
gineering school,  and  the  study  of  chemistry  in  the  agricultural  school. 

There  is,  of  course,  something  of  this  applied  science  character  in  teaching,  but 
fundamentally  teaching  is  much  more  closely  allied  to  the  fine  arts  than  to  the  ap- 
plied sciences.  Just  as  many  gifted  painters  have  been  ignorant  of  the  science  of 
optics;  just  as  many  good  musicians  have  an  adequate  knowledge  neither  of  the 
physics  of  music  nor  of  the  psychology  of  tone;  just  as  many  effective  writers  and 
speakers  would  be  unable  to  formulate  the  principles  of  style ;  so  good  teachers  have 
taught  well  in  the  past,  and  will  doubtless  teach  well  in  the  future,  altho  quite  un- 
conscious of  the  principles  that  lie  back  of  their  art.  The  painter,  the  musician,  the 
writer,  and  the  teacher  might  very  likely  do  their  work  much  better  if  they  possessed 
this  knowledge  of  theory ;  but  something  other  than  an  understanding  of  theory  is 
assuredly  the  basic  element  in  successful  practice. 

Somewhere  between  the  fine  arts  and  the  applied  sciences,  then,  but  closer  to  the 
former  than  to  the  latter,  stands  the  art  of  teaching.  In  so  far  as  psychological  prin- 
ciples can  explain  and  rationalize  successful  practice,  the  study  of  psychology  by  the 
prospective  teacher  will  have  a  positive  value,  but  no  amount  of  psychology  can  take 
the  place  of  the  study  of  the  actual  concrete  process  of  teaching  as  it  is  carried  on 
by  a  master,  coupled  with  the  patient  self-discipline  that  comes  from  true  apprentice- 
ship. The  value  of  psychology  from  this  point  of  view  is  not  to  furnish  general  prin- 
ciples from  which  specifics  for  practice  may  be  derived,  but  rather  to  furnish  an  in- 
terpretative basis  for  a  study  of  practice.  It  is  not  a  propaedeutic  to  teaching  in  the 
sense  that  physics  is  a  propaedeutic  to  engineering;  it  is  rather  an  accompaniment, 
bearing  to  the  curriculum  for  the  prospective  teacher  a  relation  analogous  to  that 
which  the  study  of  color  theories  bears  to  the  curriculum  of  the  artist,  or  the  study 
of  counterpoint  and  harmony  to  the  curriculum  of  the  musician.  In  so  far  as  the  arts 
of  painting  and  music  are  concerned,  the  classroom  where  theory  is  taught  is  an  ad- 
junct to  the  studio  where  the  chief  work  of  training  is  concentrated;  in  so  far  as  the 
art  of  teaching  is  concerned,  the  classroom  in  psychology  is  but  an  adjunct  to  the  labo- 
ratory school  where  participation  in  the  actual  task  of  teaching  may  give  to  the  novice 
something  akin  to  the  deft  touch  of  the  experienced  teacher* 

PSYCHOLOGY  NECESSARY  TO  A  SOUND  VIEW  OF  EDUCATION 

It  is  unfortunate  that  educational  theory,  of  which  psychology  is  a  part,  has  suf- 
fered quite  undeserved  condemnation  merely  because  of  its  inadequacy  for  prescribing 
technique.  There  has  been  a  very  general  failure  to  recognize  that  the  study  of  theory 
exercises  an  important  function  that  is  quite  independent  of  its  influence  upon  the  art 
of  teaching.  While  the  young  teacher  will  depend  largely  upon  imitation  and  practice 
to  master  the  technique  of  his  art,  and  while  the  normal  school  in  consequence  must 
first  of  all  provide  abundant  opportunities  for  the  successful  mastery  of  technique 
in  this  empirical  fashion,  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  teacher  should  be  some- 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PSYCHOLOGY  181 

thing  more  than  a  craftsman.  If  the  ideals  of  democracy  are  to  be  reflected  in  the  edu- 
cational system,  the  teachers  themselves  must  be  charged  with  some  measure  of  re- 
sponsibility for  constructing,  evaluating,  and  criticising  general  educational  proposals 
and  programs;  they  must  know  the  relation  of  education  to  other  social  forces; 
they  must  know  what  functions  education  has  to  discharge,  what  institutions  and 
agencies  are  available,  and  under  what  limitations  these  institutions  and  agencies  do 
their  work.  The  process  of  teaching  is,  of  course,  the  primary  concern  of  every  teacher, 
but  education  comprehends  far  more  than  this,  and  the  teacher  is  a  minister  of  edu- 
cation. 

The  capacity  thus  to  share  with  one^s  colleagues  the  responsibility  of  determining 
educational  policies  may  bear  no  discoverable  relation  to  one's  actual  skill  as  a  teacher. 
It  is,  indeed,  quite  possible  that  a  training  limited  to  the  skill  aspects  of  teaching  may 
produce  a  type  of  classroom  efficiency  marvelously  well  adapted  to  an  educational  sys- 
tem that  is  organized  on  the  factory  plan,  —  a  system  in  which  the  thinking,  the  plan- 
ning, and  the  responsible  direction  are  centralized  in  a  single  official,  or  in  a  group  of 
officials,  standing  over  the  classroom  teachers  much  as  the  boss  in  a  factory  stands  over 
the  workers.  This  situation  is  not  unlike  that  in  which  American  education  is  involved 
to-day — and  such  a  situation  should  not  continue.  The  teachers  themselves  should 
have  a  very  large  part  in  determining  the  educational  policies  of  the  country,  and  with 
the  mature,  well-trained,  and  relatively  permanent  teaching  staff  which  we  hope  will 
shortly  replace  the  present  immature,  untrained,  and  short-lived  body  of  teachers,  we 
may  look  forward  hopefully  to  the  realization  of  the  democratic  ideal.  Not  all  can  be 
leaders,  but  in  an  effective  democracy  all  must  be  intelligent  interpreters  and  critics. 

TWOFOLD  REQUIREMENT  FUOM  PSYCHOLOGY 

We  conclude,  then,  that  the  study  of  psychology  in  the  teacher's  curriculum  has  to 
fulfil  two  fairly  distinct  functions:  (1)  it  must  provide  a  basis  for  explaining  and 
interpreting  successful  teaching  practices  as  well  as  principles  from  which  to  derive 
new  and  better  practices;  and  (£)  it  must  furnish  a  wdrking  theory  of  the  mental  life 
as  a  basis  for  understanding  the  larger  problems  of  education,  many  of  which  are  only 
remotely  connected  with  teaching.1  For  the  latter  purpose  psychology  is  only  one  of 

1  The  failure  to  recognize  this  twofold  function  of  the  study  of  psychology  is  doubtless  responsible  in  large  part  for 
the  conflicting:  views  regarding  the  actual  value  of  this  subject  in  the  professional  preparation  of  teachers. 

On  the  one  hand,  there  is  the  type  of  evidence  that  is  represented  by  the  report  of  the  Wisconsin  normal  school 
survey  (1914),  summarizing  data  gathered  from  replies  by  training-school  principals  and  critic  teachers  to  the  ques- 
tion, "Whether  psychology  and  pedagogy  as  taught  in  the  normal  department  helped  students  in  their  teaching  in 
the  training  school.**  Unfortunately  for  our  purposes,  psychology  and  pedagogy  were  not  separated  in  this  ques- 
tion; consequently  the  proportion  of  the  criticisms  to  be  charged  against  psychology  is  difficult  to  determine.  From 
individual  replies  published  in  the  report,  however,  it  would  seem  that  the  courses  in  pedagogy  are  somewhat 
less  severely  criticised  than  the  courses  in  psychology.  Of  the  sixty  persons  replying  to  the  question — 

18.3%  state  that  psychology  and  pedagogy  help  the  students  in  their  practice  teaching; 
66.6%  state  that  these  subjects  do  not  help  or  that  the  help  is  slight; 
15.1%  state  that  they  are  unable  to  judge. 

The  detailed  criticisms  that  are  reproduced  in  the  report  emphasize  particularly— 
(a)  The  academic  nature  of  psychology  and  pedagogy  as  these  subjects  are  commonly  taught  in  the  normal 

schools; 
(6)  The  immaturity  of  the  students  at  the  time  when  these  courses  are  taken ; 


182  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

several  subjects  of  study,  each  of  which  should  contribute  its  quota  of  principles,  hypo- 
theses, and  points  of  view  to  a  general  theory  of  education.  A  substantial  groundwork 
in  biology  is  doubtless  as  important  in  this  regard  as  psychology,  while  the  claims  of 
economics,  sociology,  and  the  history  of  education  should  not  be  overlooked. 

Altho  these  two  functions  of  psychology  are  distinct,  they  can  be  fulfilled  in  part  by 
the  same  courses.  In  one-year  and  two-year  curricula,  the  first  function  is  the  more 
important,  for  while  the  teacher  must  be  something  more  than  a  craftsman,  he  must 
be  a  craftsman  first.  Indeed,  if  he  is  to  work  in  the  schools  for  only  a  limited  period, 
his  contributions  to  constructive  educational  policies  will  necessarily  be  very  slight. 
The  shorter  curricula,  then,  may  well  afford  to  emphasize  the  kind  of  psychology  that 
bears  most  directly  upon  the  art  of  teaching.  Furthermore,  the  courses  in  systematic 
psychology  will  mean  much  more  to  the  student  if  he  has  approached  them  gradually 
thru  a  study  of  the  concrete  facts  illustrated  in  the  processes  of  teaching  and  learning. 
These  courses  may  well  be  reserved,  then,  for  the  later  stages  of  the  longer  curricula, 
where  they  will  be  taken  by  students  who  are  presumably  looking  upon  the  work  of 
teaching  as  a  permanent  career. 

PROPOSED  ORGANIZATION  OF  COURSES  IN  PSYCHOLOGY 

Consistently  with  this  view,  the  following  organization  of  the  work  in  psychology 
is  suggested : 

I.  In  all  professional  curricula  on  the  collegiate  level  there  should  be  an  introduc- 
tory course  preceded  or  paralleled  by  a  course  in  biology,  and  closely  related  to  the 
student's  participation  in  the  work  of  teaching.  This  course  should  furnish  a  bird's-eye 
view  of  the  teacher's  task,  and,  like  the  first  professional  course  proposed  for  the  rural 
certificate  curriculum,1  might  well  be  termed  an  "Introduction  to  Teaching"  rather 
than  an  introduction  to  psychology.  Aside  from  an  initial  effort  to  define  in  simple  and 
concrete  terms  the  problem  of  teaching,  it  would  be  largely  psychological  in  its  charac- 
ter, very  concrete  and  "practical"  in  its  content,  and  concerned  with  such  topics  as  in- 
stincts, habits,  the  laws  of  learning,  the  technique  of  study,  and  the  significance  of  in- 
dividual differences — topics  that  have  a  definite  application  to  classroom  teaching. 
Something  regarding  the  mental  characteristics  of  children  at  successive  levels  of 
growth  and  development  should  also  be  included.  The  purpose  of  the  course  should  be 
not  to  cover  the  ground  intensively,  but  rather  to  do  what  the  name  implies — provide 
an  introduction.  It  should  furnish  a  point  of  view  and  a  terminology  for  later  work.2 

(c)  The  wide  gulf  between  theory  and  practice; 

(d)  The  lack  of  constant  or  frequent  use  in  psychology  classes  of  the  material  for  illustration  and  demonstra- 
tion that  the  training-  school  affords. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  questionnaire  submitted  to  graduates  of  the  Missouri  normal  schools  regarding  the  pro- 
fessional courses  that  had  proved  of  largest  value  to  them  in  their  actual  work  as  teacher  gave  the  third  place  to 
psychology  in  a  group  of  nine  subjects.  (See  page  442.)  It  should  also  be  noted  that  J.  L.  Meriam's  study  Nor- 
mal School  Education  and  Efficiency  (New  York,  1906),  revealed  a  higher  correlation  between  class  standing  in 
psychology  and  success  in  teaching  than  between  success  in  teaching  and  class  standing  in  any  other  normal  school 
course  except  practice  teaching. 
1  See  page  174. 
a  There  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  traditional  coarse  in  general  psychology  is  not  needed  as  a  basis  for  a  course 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PSYCHOLOGY  183 

£.  This  introductory  treatment  should  be  amplified  in  all  of  the  courses  that  follow. 
In  other  words,  every  course  in  the  normal  school  should  be  in  an  important  sense 
a  course  in  psychology.  The  abundance  of  opportunities  for  realizing  this  aim  will 
be  referred  to  in  the  following  sections.  It  is  sufficient  here  to  point  out  that  there  is 
no  better  place  to  teach  the  important  facts  regarding  individual  differences  than 
in  the  courses  on  school  management  and  the  technique  of  teaching ;  nowhere  may  the 
characteristics  of  the  child's  mind  in  its  successive  stages  of  growth  be  more  clearly 
illustrated  than  in  connection  with  the  work  in  reading  and  arithmetic;  while  the 
principles  of  habit  formation  and  the  laws  of  learning  may  be  applied  and  exem- 
plified in  every  subject  and  every  class. 

3.  Finally,  the  student  will  come  to  the  systematic  courses,  which  should  be  designed 
to  bring  together  in  a  comprehensive  and  orderly  manner  the  detailed  facts  with 
which  by  this  time  an  intimate  acquaintance  will  have  been  gained.  This  treatment 
should  be  attempted  even  in  the  shorter  curricula  to  the  extent  of  gathering  together 
the  important  precepts  and  principles  that  relate  to  the  art  of  teaching.  In  the  longer 
curricula,  however,  it  should  have  the  wider  aim  of  leaving  with  the  student  a  fairly 
definite  body  of  educational  doctrine  to  prepare  him  for  the  *kind  of  constructive 
thinking  referred  to  above. 

The  general  principle  of  curriculum  organization  here  proposed  will  be  emphasized 
in  discussing  other  subjects  as  well  as  psychology.  In  essence,  it  involves  the  integra- 
tion of  all  of  the  work  of  the  normal  school  into  one  consistent  whole.  A  true  curric- 
ulum is  more  than  a  mere  aggregation  of  courses,  it  is  an  organization  dominated 
by  a  unitary  purpose.  If  this  principle  is  to  be  worked  out  effectively,  each  instructor 
must  necessarily  be  familiar  with  the  work  of  the  other  instructors.  There  must  be 
frequent  conferences  upon  the  ever-recurring  problem  of  making  each  element  in 
the  curriculum — not  only  each  course,  but  each  topic  in  each  course — contribute 
its  maximum  of  influence  toward  the  effective  working  of  the  whole.  The  careful, 
periodic  adjustment  of  the  various  parts  of  the  educational  organism  is  just  as  neces- 
sary as  the  careful,  periodic  adjustment  of  a  watch  or  of  any  other  finely  organized 
structure.  It  makes  for  a  maximum  of  efficiency  and  a  minimum  of  waste.  Applied 
to  the  particular  departments  under  discussion,  it  would  not  only  prevent  needless 
duplications  and  repetitions  of  the  same  materials  in  different  courses,  but  it  would 
ensure  them  when  needed.  There  would  be  an  end  to  the  student's  complaint  that 
what  he  has  been  taught  in  one  course  is  retaught  in  another  as  tho  it  were  being 

that  deals  primarily  with  the  psychological  interpretation  of  the  art  of 'teaching.  A  committee  of  the  American 
Psychological  Association,  of  which  Professor  G.  M.  Whipple  was  chairman,  reported  in  1910  that  educational  psy- 
chology did  not  need  this  general  basis.  ("Teaching  of  Psychology  in  Normal  Schools,"  Psycholoffical  Monograph, 
vol.  xii,  No.  51, 1910.)  In  the  departments  of  education  in  several  universities  introductory  courses  in  educational 
psychology  are  offered  without  a  prerequisite  in  general  psychology,  and  are  completed  successfully  by  students 
who  have  not  had  courses  of  the  latter  type.  For  example,  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University,  after  some  years 
of  requiring  general  psychology  as  a  prerequisite,  now  offers  the  following  course :  "Educational  Psychology. . . . 
This  course  gives  a  general  treatment  of  the  elements  of  educational  psychology.  It  is  designed  to  meet  the  needs 
of  graduate  students  who  have  had  little  or  no  previous  training  in  psychology  ."(Announcements,  1916-17,  page  45.) 
Harvard  University,  the  University  of  Missouri,  and  the  University  of  Illinois  also  offer  courses  in  educational  psy- 
chology without  requiring  general  psychology. 


184  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

presented  for  the  first  time.  There  would  be  an  end  also  of  the  too  well-founded  criti- 
cism that  the  courses  in  theory  have  no  influence  upon  practice — are  not  even  reflected 
in  the  practical  courses  offered  in  the  same  school. 


(2)  HISTORY  OF  EDUCATION 

COURSES  OFFERED  IN  MISSOURI  SCHOOLS 

A  course  in  the  history  of  education  is  prescribed  for  the  two-year  curricula  in 
both  of  the  city  training  schools  and  in  all  of  the  state  normal  schools  except  Cape 
Grirardeau.  The  amount  of  work  required  varies,  however,  from  thirty  class  periods 
at  Kansas  City  to  sixty  at  Kirks ville  and  Springfield,  eighty  at  Harris  Teachers  Col- 
lege, and  one  hundred  twenty  at  Warrensburg  and  Mary  ville.  The  character  of  the 
prescribed  work  also  varies.  At  Kirksville  only  the  first  term  is  required  in  the  two- 
year  curricula,  altho  a  second  term  is  demanded  for  the  three-year  and  four-year 
curricula.  The  first  term's  work  covers  the  long  period  from  the  earliest  times  to  the 
eighteenth  century;  consequently  the  student  who  remains  for  only  two  years  has  a 
fairly  comprehensive  course  in  the  history  of  education  during  the  ancient,  mediaeval, 
and  early  modern  periods,  but  nothing  of  the  very  important  developments  of  the  past 
two  centuries.  Much  more  reasonable  is  the  practice  at  Springfield,  where  the  history 
of  elementary  education  (a  one-term  course)  is  required  for  the  two-year  curricula, 
while  in  the  longer  curricula  one  additional  term  covering  the  general  field  is  pre- 
scribed. At  the  Harris  Teachers  College  the  course  covers  the  general  field,  but  the 
greatest  emphasis  is  laid  upon  the  modern  period.1 

FUNCTION  OF  HISTORY  OF  EDUCATION  IN  THE  PROFESSIONAL  PREPARATION  OF  TEACHERS 
In  spite  of  the  wealth  of  material  available  for  these  courses  in  the  history  of 
education,  the  value  of  the  study  in  curricula  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  has 
been  more  frequently  and  more  seriously  questioned  than  has  the  value  of  any  other 
strictly  professional  course.  The  Missouri  teachers  who  were  asked  to  rank  the  pro- 
fessional subjects  in  the  order  of  their  influence  upon  the  actual  work  of  teaching 
almost  invariably  placed  the  history  of  education  very  low  in  the  scale,  and  in  the 
combined  rankings  it  is  not  only  found  at  the  foot  of  the  list,  but  the  margin  that 
separates  it  from  the  other  courses  is  so  wide  as  to  indicate  a  very  general  skepticism 
as  to  its  worth.2  Similar  doubts  as  to  the  importance  of  the  study  in  affecting  the 
student's  later  practice  are  forcibly  expressed  in  a  symposium3  on  the  professional 

1  In  the  general  courses,  Monroe's  Textbook  in  the  History  of  Education  is  listed  as  the  basic  text  except  at  Kirks- 
ville, where  the  work  is  apparently  based  upon  the  instructor's  syllabus.  No  report  on  the  history  of  education  was 
received  from  the  Kansas  City  Training-  School.  Extensive  collateral  readings  are  required  in  all  of  the  schools  • 
the  supplementary  books  most  frequently  mentioned  in  the  instructors'  outlines  are:  Graves's  History  of  Educa- 
tion; Laurie's  Pre-Christian  Education:  Monroe's  Source-Book,-  the  textbooks  of  Kemp,  Compayre,  and  Davidson; 
Quick's  Educational  Reformers;  the  "Great  Educators"  series ;  Painter's  Pedagogical  Essays ;  and,  as  source  mate- 
rials, the  Smile,  Spencer's  Education,  and  Pcstalozzi's  Leonard  and  Gertrude.  2  See  page  442. 
s  Yearbook.  Society  of  College  Teachers  of  Education,  1912.  Judd  and  Parker  (.Bulletin  No.  12>  United  States  Bureau 
of  Education,  1916)  also  speak  strongly  against  the  requirement  of  the  history  of  education  in  the  two-year  curricula. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  HISTORY  OF  EDUCATION         185 

subjects  prepared  for  one  of  the  meetings  of  the  Society  of  College  Teachers  of 
Education. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  eighty  school  superintendents,  high  school  principals, 
and  college  teachers  of  education  were  asked  to  rank  eighteen  different  professional 
courses  ordinarily  offered  in  university  departments  of  education  in  the  order  of  their 
value  in  the  training  of  high  school  teachers,  the  combined  ratings  gave  the  history 
of  education  a  respectable  place.1  And  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  courses  in  the 
history  of  education  have  a  much  better  status  among  members  of  college  faculties 
than  have  any  other  courses  given  by  the  departments  of  education. 

It  is  probable  that  these  differences  of  opinion  are  due  in  part  to  the  failure  to  recog- 
nize, as  in  the  case  of  psychology,  that  the  value  of  a  subject  in  a  prospective  teach- 
er's curriculum  is  not  to  be  measured  entirely  by  the  influence  of  this  subject  upon 
the  technique  of  teaching.  The  direct  influence  of  the  history  of  education  would, 
indeed,  be  less  than  that  of  psychology,  but  its  indirect  influence  may  be  far  from 
negligible  and  its  contributions  to  what  we  have  termed  the"professional  intelligence" 
of  the  teacher  are  of  obvious  importance.  The  instructors  in  this  subject,  indeed,  lay 
a  large  emphasis  upon  this  last-named  factor.  The  function  of  the  study  is  frankly 
" interpretative;"  its  essential  outcomes  are  to  be  expressed  not  in  increased  skill, 
but  in  such  terms  as  "interpretative  backgrounds,"  "points  of  view,"  "appreciative 
attitudes,"  and  the  like.2 

It  would  indeed  be  unfortunate  if  the  demand  for  the  immediately  "practical" 
should  blind  one  to  the  importance  of  ensuring  the  attitudes  and  points  of  view  that 
only  historical  study  can  furnish.  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  many  of 
those  opposed  to  the  history  of  education  condemn  it  simply  because  it  seems  to  lack 
immediate  utility,  there  is  a  serious  question  as  to  whether  the  present  organiza- 
tion of  the  subject  in  typical  normal  school  courses  furnishes  the  most  practicable 
means  of  attaining  these  desired  results.  A  painstaking  examination  of  the  courses 

1  See  H.  A.  Holllster:  Courses  in  Education  Best  Adapted  to  the  Needs  of  High  School  Teachers  and  Sigh  School 
Principals,  in  School  and  Home  Education,,  xxvi ;  8, 216  (April,  1917).  The  various  courses  were  found  to  stand  in  the 
following  order:  Educational  psychology ;  technique  of  teaching-;  teaching:  of  special  subjects;  principles  of  second- 
ary education;  theory  of  teaching;  principles  of  education  (general  course);  history  of  education  (general);  edu- 
cational sociology;  history  of  education  in  the  United  States ;  educational  measurements;  the  psychology  of  sub- 
jects; high  school  curricula;  philosophy  of  education;  genetic  psychology;  high  school  administration ;  supervision 
of  instruction ;  the  curricula  of  the  schools  (general);  practice  teaching;  industrial  education;  educational  classics  ; 
school  supervision;  educational  administration  (general) ;  foreign  school  systems.  This  ranking  represents  the  courses 
as  they  were  rated  for  the  training  of  high  school  teachers ;  the  ranking  for  the  training  of  principals  was  somewhat 
different.  It  should  be  noted,  of  course,  that  in  either  case  the  situation  is  not  quite  comparable  with  that  which 
is  involved  in  considering  the  history  of  education  as  a  part  of  two-year  curricula  for  elementary  teaching. 

2  The  following  statements  are  quoted  from  the  answers  given  by  instructors  in  the  history  of  education  to  the  ques- 
tion, "What  is  the  specific  aim  of  the  course?" 

"A  more  intelligent  grasp  of  educational  problems.  Wider  conceptions  of  the  teacher's  work.  The  present  under- 
stood through  the  past." 

"To  give  the  student  an  understanding  of  our  present  educational  theory  and  practice  through  a  study  of  its 
development  and  evolution." 

*'To  give  the  student  the  proper  historical  setting  for  all  educational  theory  and  practice." 
"To  interpret  and  evaluate  present  educational  problems  in  the  light  of  past  school  experience.* 
"To  give  a  deeper  appreciation  and  better  understanding  of  our  present  educational  situation  when  viewed  trom 
an  historical  standpoint.'1 

"To  acquaint  the  elementary  teacher  with  the  special  significance  and  importance  of  elementary  education  as 
revealed  in  the  history  of  that  institution.  To  make  intelligent  a  great  many  of  the  current  educational  practices. 


186  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

given  and  of  the  work  done  in  the  classes  offers  convincing  evidence  that  the  courses 
in  the  general  history  of  education  are  not  suited  to  students  of  the  junior  college 
level;  they  are  distinctly  senior  college  or  university  courses,  presupposing  a  matur- 
ity of  mind,  a  breadth  of  outlook,  and  a  historical  and  philosophical  background 
that  it  would  be  hopeless  to  expect  in  a  student  just  out  of  the  high  school  or  with 
but  a  year's  collegiate  work,1  As  an  advanced  study,  forming  the  climax  of  a  three- 
year  or  four-year  curriculum,  the  history  of  education  can  be  made,  and  doubtless 
frequently  is  made,  to  realize  its  rich  possibilities.  As  an  elementary  study,  under- 
taken early  in  the  period  of  professional  training,  or  as  a  part  of  the  brief  and  con- 
gested one-year  and  two-year  programs,  its  justification  is  certainly  debatable.  It  is 
possible  that,  in  a  two-year  curriculum,  a  summarizing  course  which  will  treat  the 
principles  of  education  genetically  may  have  a  legitimate  place.  This  possibility  will 
be  referred  to  in  the  following  section. 

SUGGESTED  REARRANGEMENT  OF  HISTORY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  real  need,  however,  is  that  the  principle  to  which  reference  was  made  in  the 
discussion  of  psychology  should  be  applied  likewise  to  the  history  of  education.  There 
would  be  a  distinct  advantage  in  making  each  teacher  of  the  specific  courses  in  meth- 
ods, school  management,  and  the  principles  of  teaching  responsible  for  the  historical 
aspects  of  his  subject.  The  significance  of  the  modern  methods  of  teaching  reading, 
for  example,  is  much  more  keenly  appreciated  by  the  student  if  he  knows  something 
of  the  older  methods  of  teaching  reading,  and  the  appropriate  point,  indeed  the  only 
effective  point,  at  which  to  give  the  student  this  historical  perspective  upon  the  read- 
ing problem  is  in  the  specific  course  that  deals  with  primary  reading.  Again,  the 
courses  in  arithmetic  and  in  the  teaching  of  arithmetic  offer  innumerable  occasions 
for  illuminating  present  practices  thru  references  to  the  development,  both  of  arith- 
metic itself  and  of  the  methods  of  teaching  it  to  children.  The  modern  conceptions 
of  geography  and  history  as  component  parts  of  the  elementary  program  faithfully 
reflect  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  important  modern  educational  reformers 
from  Pestalozzi,  Froebel,  Herbart,  and  Herbert  Spencer  to  contemporary  leaders  like 
John  Dewey;  in  presenting  these  conceptions  as  they  recur  in  the  specific  courses  in 
geography  and  history,  there  is  the  best  possible  opportunity  to  give  the  student  an 
initial  acquaintance  with  the  philosophy  on  which  they  rest.  The  study  of  school 
management  and  the  technique  of  teaching  is  probably  best  approached  by  the  same 
genetic  method ;  the  apparently  trivial  details  of  classroom  routine,  for  example,  take 
on  a  new  meaning  when  their  development  is  traced  from  the  old  days  of  individual 
instruction,  thru  the  innovations  of  the  Jesuits  and  the  Christian  Brethren  and  the 

1  The  classes  in  the  history  of  education  in  the  Missouri  normal  schools  in  the  spring  of  1915  were  made  up  predom- 
inantly of  second-year  students;  in  no  case  was  a  pupil  of  secondary  grade  registered,  and  in  only  one  class  out  of 
eight  reporting  was  the  registration  predominantly  of  first-year  students.  At  the  Harris  Teachers  College,  the  work 
in  the  history  of  education  is  given  in  the  last  semester  of  the  two-year  curriculum*,  at  the  Kansas  City  Training 
School,  the  course  is  given  in  the  last  ten  weeks  of  the  second  year. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  GENERAL  METHOD  187 

contributions  of  the  Bell- Lancaster  schools,  to  the  modern  system  of  classroom  organ- 
ization; the  discussion  of  school  discipline  forms  a  most  effective  setting  for  significant 
references  to  the  historical  development  of  individualism  in  education,  and  some 
of  the  important  ideas  of  such  reformers  as  Rousseau,  Froebel,  and  Spencer  can  here 
be  introduced  as  growing  out  of  concrete  problems.  It  is  a  sound  psychology  that 
associates  the  earlier  stages  of  an  institution  or  of  an  educational  practice  with  the 
treatment  that  most  completely  reveals  its  modern  significance.  The  "practical" 
courses  not  only  afford  the  natural  opportunities  for  this;  they  are  urgently  in  need 
of  the  illumination  and  enforcement  that  comes  from  skilfully  laid  historical  per- 
spectives. Moreover,  most  topics  gain  enormously  in  weight  and  dignity  when  so 
treated.  The  handling  of  educational  concepts  as  growths  demanding  development 
in  accurate  and  disciplined  thinking  on  the  part  of  the  student  is  an  essential  charac- 
teristic of  instruction  that  may  properly  be  considered  to  be  of  collegiate  quality. 
The  treatment  proposed  is  a  most  effective  propaedeutic  for  the  systematic  courses. 
The  principles  of  curriculum  construction  that  were  emphasized  in  the  discussion  of 
psychology  have  a  most  important  application  here.  The  systematic  work  in  the 
history  of  educational  theories,  like  the  systematic  courses  in  psychology,  fulfils  its 
proper  function  in  preparing  the  teacher  not  for  technical  duties  of  the  classroom 
but  for  constructive  thinking  regarding  general  educational  problems.  The  place  of 
this  work  in  the  shorter  curricula,  therefore,  is  less  important  than  in  the  longer  cur- 
ricula, not  only  because  the  students  are  not  so  well  prepared  for  it,  but  because  it 
will  be  of  large  service  only  to  those  who  remain  long  enough  in  the  profession  to 
have  a  share  in  determining  educational  policies. 


(3)  GENEEAL  METHOD  AND  PRINCIPLES  OF  TEACHING 

The  term  "general  method"  has  an  interesting  history .  In  American  normal  schools 
from  1870  to  1890,  instruction  in  the  technique  of  teaching  was  based  upon  such 
books  as  White's  Pedagogy  and  Fitch's  Art  of  Teaching.  These  are  in  the  main  sim- 
ple compilations  of  the  rules  that  long  experience  in  classroom  work  has  established. 
They  were  most  serviceable  books  in  their  day,  and  the  general  type  of  handbook  that 
they  represent  is  still  useful  as  a  guide  to  young  and  inexperienced  teachers.  Such 
books,  however,  are  essentially  empirical  in  their  character,  for  while  they  sometimes 
attempt  to  justify  the  practices  that  they  recommend  upon  the  basis  of  general 
principles,  the  latter  are  usually  little  more  than  palpable  truisms.  Courses  based 
upon  such  materials  are  far  from  satisfactory  in  classes  above  the  secondary  level. 

The  development  of  "general  method"  constituted  in  American  pedagogy  the  first 
significant  step  away  firom  this  rule-of- thumb  procedure  and  toward  the  development 
of  a  consistent  and  unified  theory  of  teaching.  A  "general"  method  of  teaching,  ob- 
viously, is  a  method  that  may  be  applied  to  any  given  teaching  task;  it  is  a  proced- 
ure of  universal  validity.  The  Herbartians  believed  that  they  had  found  this  in  the 


188  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

five  "formal  steps,"  each  with  its  distinctive  purpose  and  all  cooperating  toward  the 
consummation  of  the  teaching  process  as  they  conceived  it,  namely.,  the  development 
in  the  mind  of  the  learner  of  a  general  truth.  It  was  this  procedure,  derived  from  Her- 
bart's  analysis  of  the  development  of  ideas  and  elaborated  by  his  followers,  especially 
Ziller  and  Rein,  that  constituted  the  "general  method"  introduced  into  American 
normal  schools  and  university  departments  of  education  during  the  decade  following 
1890.1  The  movement  to  extend  normal  school  curricula  beyond  the  secondary  level 
—  already  well  under  way  at  this  time — and  the  rapid  growth  of  departments  of 
education  in  the  colleges  and  universities  had  led  to  a  demand  for  something  more 
clearly  consistent  with  collegiate  standards  than  the  older  books  on  pedagogy  repre- 
sented. The  Herbartian  theory  of  teaching  promised  at  first  to  meet  this  demand. 

Modern  developments  in  psychology,  particularly  as  influenced  by  the  theory  of 
evolution  and  by  the  experimental  method,  also  began  at  about  this  time  to  affect 
the  professional  courses  in  the  normal  schools  and  colleges.  The  cult  of  "child  study," 
which  assumed  the  evolutionary  point  of  view,  tended  to  shift  the  emphasis  in  pro- 
fessional training  from  the  subject-matter,  where  the  Herbartian  doctrines  placed 
it,  to  the  child  and  to  the  development  of  his  body  as  well  as  of  his  mind.  At  the 
same  time  the  experimentalist  in  psychology  displayed  a  profound  contempt  for 
the  "armchair"  speculation  that  had  preceded  the  day  of  the  psychological  labo- 
ratory, even  discrediting  the  work  of  so  keen  and  competent  a  philosopher  as  Her- 
bart.  Meanwhile,  the  assumption  that  the  procedure  crystallized  in  the  five  "  formal 
steps  "  of  Herbart  constituted  a  method  applicable  to  all  teaching  situations  could 
not  long  be  sustained  even  philosophically.  While  the  theory  worked  admirably  in 
certain  types  of  school  exercises,  there  were  other  lessons,  known  empirically  to  be 
essential  to  the  progress  of  children,  that  could  not  be  fitted  into  these  forms.  "Gen- 
eral method,"  then,  while  a  notable  advance  over  the  kind  of  pedagogy  that  had 
preceded  it,  came  upon  the  stage  just  a  little  too  late  to  be  long  influential. 

The  Herbartian  sway  lasted  in  Missouri  until  about  1905,  and  still  persists  in 
some  of  the  schools  in  the  name  of  the  course,  "general  method.''1  But  the  content 
of  this  course  has  been  greatly  modified,  and  the  term  "principles  of  teaching, "  a 
much  more  appropriate  designation,  has  largely  replaced  the  older  name.  In  this  trans- 
formation, the  influence  of  modern  psychology  was  first  most  strongly  felt,  and  the  sci- 
entific attitude  assumed  by  psychology  caused  a  return  to  something  like  the  empiri- 
cal treatment  characteristic  of  the  older  books  on  pedagogy.  The  attempt  was  made, 
however,  to  justify  successful  practice  by  reference  to  accepted  psychological  prin- 
ciples, and  in  some  cases  to  derive  new  precepts  of  practice  from  more  general  prin- 
ciples. A  little  later  the  influence  of  John  Dewey  began  to  be  felt  in  the  courses  in 
principles  of  teaching,  especially  in  the  emphasis  placed  upon  teaching  thru  "prob- 

1  The  leaders  in  the  Herbartian  movement  in  America  were  Charles  De  Garmo,  who  published  his  Essentials  of 
Method  in  1890,  and  Charles  A.  McMurry  and  Frank  M.  McMurry,  the  former  of  whom,  issued  a  General  Method  in 
189S,  and  both  of  whom  published  as  joint  authors  in  1898,  The  Method  of  the  Recitation,  by  far  the  most  influential 
book  that  the  Herbartian  movement  produced  in  America. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  GENERAL  METHOD  189 

lems"  and  "projects,"  and  in  the  importance  attached  to  the  "socializing"  features 
of  both  subject-matter  and  methods  of  teaching.  Indeed,  the  emphasis  now  being 
given  to  the  "problem"  method  suggests  that  the  present  tendency  is  again  toward 
an  a-priori  theory  of  practice. 

PRESENT  STATUS  OF  "GENERAL  METHOD" 

Whatever  may  be  its  name,  the  course  in  principles  of  teaching,  as  offered  in  Mis- 
souri, is  now  a  combination  of  general  educational  theory  and  the  technique  of  teach- 
ing. A  study  of  "lesson  types"  is  almost  always  a  feature  of  the  course,  and  this  is  com- 
monly accompanied  by  the  preparation  of  lesson  plans.  In  this  sense,  especially,  the 
course  becomes  an  introduction  to  practice  teaching,  and  is  usually  listed  as  a  pre- 
requisite. Aside  from  the  treatment  of  lesson  types,  the  courses  vary  widely  in  content 
according  to  the  particular  theory  of  education  subscribed  to  by  the  instructor. 

In  spite  of  their  nebulous  character,  the  courses  in  general  method  and  the  prin- 
ciples of  teaching  seem  to  meet  a  real  need.  The  teachers  of  Missouri  who  rated  the 
professional  subjects  in  the  order  of  their  importance  place  these  courses  second,  giv- 
ing the  first  place  to  courses  in  "special  methods."1  It  is  impossible  to  determine  from 
the  replies  whether  the  theoretical  or  the  practical  phases  of  the  courses  are  adjudged 
to  be  of  the  greater  value,  but  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  special- methods  courses 
are  rated  highest,  one  may  infer  that  the  opportunity  to  study  the  actual  technique  of 
teaching  is  the  important  contribution  of  the  courses  in  principles  of  teaching.  The 
Harris  Teachers  College  does  not  offer  a  course  in  general  method,  but  the  principles 
that  underlie  all  of  the  detailed  work  of  the  first  three  semesters  are  gathered  into  a 
comprehensive  summarizing  course  in  the  principles  of  education  in  the  final  semester. 

MOST  ADVANTAGEOUS  POSITION  OF  THE  COUESE 

The  arrangement  of  the  courses  at  the  Harris  Teachers  College  suggests  again  the 
advantage  of  postponing  the  systematic  discussion  of  educational  theory  until  well 
toward  the  end  of  the  curriculum.  If  this  is  done,  the  course  in  principles  of  teaching 
may  be  made  definitely  to  concern  itself  with  the  technique  of  teaching.  This  does 
not  mean  that  the  course  should  exclude  educational  theory,  or  that  it  should  return 
to  the  status  of  the  old-time,  rule-of-thumb  "pedagogy ;""  it  means  rather  that  theory 
should  emerge  from  the  study  of  actual  practice  and  not  be  imposed  as  a  set  of  fun- 
damental principles  from  which  valid  precepts  of  practice  can  be  deductively  derived; 
it  means  that  the  student  should  from  the  outset  be  placed  in  a  position  where  he  will 
be  stimulated  to  think  out  for  himself  the  reasons  for  the  success  or  failure  of  this  or 
that  practice.  Such  thinking  will  necessarily  be  crude  and  unsatisfactory  at  the  begin- 
ning, and  here  lies  the  opportunity  of  the  instructor  to  guide  the  student  in  the  con- 
struction of  adequate  educational  standards. 

The  proposal  here,  as  in  connection  with  the  courses  in  psychology  and  the  history 
1  See  summary  on  page  442. 


190  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

of  education,  is  simply  to  apply  to  the  professional  preparation  of  teachers  the  induc- 
tive procedure  which  educational  theory  itself  has  long  endorsed,  and  which  has  been 
applied  with  most  notable  success  in  other  types  of  professional  education,  particu- 
larly in  law  and  in  medicine.  It  is  true  that  legal  education  in  the  United  States 
offers  unique  opportunities  to  follow  an  inductive  method,  for  the  common  law,  as 
Professor  Redlich  so  clearly  points  out,1  "is  case-law  and  nothing  else  than  case-law;" 
whatever  general  principles  it  involves  have  come  out  of  actual  decisions  of  the  courts 
in  trying  individual  cases,  and  the  most  effective  way  for  the  law  student  to  gain  a 
comprehension  of  these  principles  is  to  analyze  and  compare  actual  cases.  It  is  prob- 
able, indeed,  that  many  of  these  principles  defy  actual  formulation  in  words;  thru 
a  rigid  analysis  of  concrete  cases  the  student  seems  gradually  to  come  to  the  point 
where  he  "feels"  without  formulating  the  standard  upon  which  this  or  that  issue  may 
be  decided. 

The  situation  in  respect  to  the  actual  work  of  classroom  teaching  is,  in  many  re- 
spects, analogous  to  this.  No  one  has  as  yet  definitely  formulated  a  body  of  doctrine 
which  can  be  given  to  a  young  teacher  with  the  hope  that,  thru  its  application,  he 
will  be  able  to  solve  all  of  his  problems  successfully.  The  fact  that  the  preliminary 
study  of  educational  theory  has  often  either  no  influence  upon  later  practice  or  an 
unfortunate  influence  has  been  pointed  out  again  and  again.  This  is  not  so  much  an 
indictment  of  theory  as  an  indication  that  the  theory  has  come  at  the  wrong  time, 
has  been  approached  in  the  wrong  way,  and  has  been  directed,  so  to  speak,  toward 
the  wrong  end. 


(4)  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT,  CLASS  MANAGEMENT,  AND  SCHOOL  ECONOMY 

Under  one  name  or  another  a  course  in  school  management  is  required  in  the  two- 
year  curricula  of  all  of  the  Missouri  normal  schools  except  Kirksville,  and  a  course 
combining  school  management  and  the  theory  of  education  is  required  in  the  fourth 
or  last  semester  of  the  two-year  curriculum  at  the  Harris  Teachers  College.  In  the 
normal  schools,  the  course  is  commonly  covered  in  a  twelve  weeks  term,  five  hours  a 
week.  It  is  partially  differentiated  from  the  course  in  principles  of  teaching  by  laying 
the  chief  emphasis  upon  the  problems  of  classroom  technique,  including  routine,  pro- 
gram-making, grading  and  classification,  and  discipline.  The  essentials  of  school 
hygiene  are  also  as  a  rule  included  in  the  course,  and  whatever  explicit  instruction 
the  student  receives  in  professional  ethics  is  likely  to  be  given  here. 

As  compared  with  the  courses  in  the  principles  and  technique  of  teaching,  the  in- 
struction in  school  management  is  likely  to  reflect  the  conditions  of  successful  prac- 
tice rather  than  to  develop  an  ideal  procedure  from  a  preliminary  study  of  theory. 
Most  of  the  rules  and  precepts  of  management,  indeed,  simply  formulate  the  conclu- 
sions that  generations  of  teachers  have  drawn  from  their  experience  in  organizing 

1  Bulletin  Number  Mght,  Carnegie  Foundation,  New  York,  1914,  page  85. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT  191 

schools  and  managing  children,  altho  modern  textbooks  usually  present  these  rules 
and  precepts  with  some  attempt  to  justify  them  theoretically.  Fundamental  questions 
of  educational  theory,  however,  are  very  seldom  encountered  except  in  the  treatment 
of  discipline,  and  even  here  the  emphasis  is  largely  upon  the  specific  methods  and 
devices  by  means  of  which  order  and  control  may  be  established  and  maintained. 

RELATION  TO  OTHEB  SUBJECTS 

In  its  relation  to  the  general  scheme  of  curriculum  organization  which  has  been  dis- 
cussed in  the  preceding  sections,  the  course  in  school  management  raises  some  inter- 
esting questions.  In  the  first  place,  is  the  distinction  between  management  and  teach- 
ing a  valid  distinction?  Would  it  be  possible  or  advisable  to  combine  the  materials 
of  the  two  courses  into  a  single  unified  treatment?  Does  not  this  very  practice  of  treat- 
ing the  technique  of  teaching  and  the  technique  of  management  in  separate  courses 
leave  with  the  student  an  impression  that  his  later  work  will  be  of  two  distinct  types 
rather  than  the  conviction  that  good  teaching  always  involves  good  management?  In 
the  second  place,  granting  the  importance  to  the  young  teacher  of  gaining  a  famil- 
iarity with  the  approved  procedure  in  organizing  and  managing  a  school  or  a  class- 
room, would  it  not  be  well  to  bring  discussion  of  this  procedure  into  the  closest  pos- 
sible connection  with  the  classroom  situations  and  problems  to  which  it  pertains?  In 
other  words,  should  not  the  course  in  school  management  parallel  the  work  in  observa- 
tion and  practice  teaching  and  concern  itself  largely  with  the  problems  that  actual 
classroom  teaching  involves,  utilizing  these  as  texts  for  the  presentation  and  discus- 
sion of  methods  and  devices? 

As  regards  the  first  group  of  questions,  the  advantage  of  conceiving  the  act  of 
teaching  as  a  single  process  is  obvious.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  this  justification 
for  separating  the  problems  of  management  from  those  of  teaching:  the  former 
should  be  considered  always  as  subordinate  to  the  latter  in  the  sense  that  routine, 
order,  the  daily  program,  and  other  phases  of  management  exist  only  for  the  purpose 
of  making  real  teaching  possible.  If  this  conception  of  the  function  of  school  man- 
agement is  kept  continually  before  the  students,  there  will  be  little  danger  of  over- 
emphasizing the  significance  of  the  materials  of  the  course,  or  of  considering  them  as 
representing  anything  more  than  the  technical  prerequisites  of  good  teaching.  Excel- 
lent teaching  may  in  itself  solve  som<i  of  the  problems  of  management,  particularly 
those  concerned  %with  discipline,  but  the  best  teaching  cannot  compensate  for  unhy- 
gienic classroom  conditions,  for  a  badly  arranged  daily  program,  or  for  wasteful  and 
inefficient  routine.  A  separate  treatment,  however,  does  not  necessarily  mean  a  sepa- 
rate course.  Where  a  full  semester  is  available,  it  is  doubtless  excellent  practice  to 
combine  the  materials  in  a  single  course. 

In  respect  to  the  second  group  of  questions,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
both  school  management  and  the  technique  of  teaching  will  be  taught  most  effec- 
tively if  they  accompany  practice  teaching.  There  are  difficulties  to  be  overcome  in 


192  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

carrying  out  this  plan.  The  student  who  takes  charge  of  a  practice  class  is  in  a  some- 
what different  situation  from  one  who  studies  technical  processes  by  undertaking 
actual  work  in  a  shop,  a  laboratory,  or  an  office,  for  the  blunders  of  the  latter  are  not 
nearly  so  costly  as  are  those  of  the  amateur  teacher.  It  is  obvious  that  the  danger  of 
initial  mistakes  in  practice  teaching  must  be  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  consequently 
some  instruction  in  the  technique  both  of  teaching  and  of  management  must  be  given 
prior  to  the  period  of  actual  practice.  It  should  be  feasible  to  provide  this  prelimi- 
nary instruction  during  the  study  of  classroom  work  in  the  term  or  semester  before 
practice  teaching  is  undertaken.  The  sys  hematic  courses  in  management  and  the  tech- 
nique of  teaching  could  then  parallel  practice,  the  various  topics  being  correlated  as 
far  as  possible  with  the  problems  that  emerge  in  the  student's  own  attempts  to  or- 
ganize, manage,  and  teach. 

(5)  OBSERVATION,  PARTICIPATION,  AND  PRACTICE  TEACHING 

The  training  school  constitutes  the  characteristic  laboratory  equipment  of  a 
normal  school  or  teachers  college,  and  the  courses  in  observation,  participation,  and 
practice  teaching  should  be  looked  upon  as  the  central  and  critical  elements  in  each 
of  the  curricula.  An  examination  of  these  courses  as  they  are  actually  administered 
in  the  Missouri  normal  schools  leads  one  to  the  conviction  that,  fundamental  as  the 
work  is  asserted  to  be,  its  theoretical  values  are  seldom  realized  in  practice.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say,  indeed,  that  the  training  department  is  the  weakest  part  of  the 
structure,  and  the  same  thing  is  probably  true  in  many,  if  not  in  most,  of  the  state 
normal  schools  in  this  country. 

(a)  SIZE  OF  THE  TRAINING  SCHOOL  AS  RELATED  TO  NORMAL  SCHOOL  ENROLMENT 

One  reason  for  unsatisfactory  conditions  in  training  schools,  both  in  Missouri  and 
in  the  country  at  large,  is  to  be  found  in  the  small  number  of  pupils  commonly  avail- 
able for  training  purposes.  Unlike  the  city  training  school,  the  state  normal  school 
has  usually  no  legal  connection  with  the  local  elementary  and  high  schools.  As  a 
consequence,  it  cannot  commandeer  a  sufficient  number  of  pupils  to  provide  adequate 
practice  facilities,  and  its  training  school  must  be  built  up  by  the  adoption  of  mea- 
sures that  are  likely  to  give  it  a  pupil  body  that  is  both  limited  in  numbers  and  un- 
representative of  normal  social  conditions.  In  some  cases  it  becomes  a  select  school 
with  a  *  Awaiting  list;""  or  it  may  go  to  the  opposite  extreme  and  become  a  dumping- 
ground  for  difficult  pupils  that  local  schools  are  glad  to  be  rid  of.  The  enrolment  is 
likely  to  be  small  and  the  practice  classes  so  attenuated  in  numbers  as  to  aiford  little 
opportunity  for  the  necessary  instruction  of  the  student-teacher. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING  198 

CONTROL  OF  LOCAL  SCHOOL  FACILITIES  INDISPENSABLE 

It  is  unfortunate  that  normal  schools  should  ever  be  located  in  towns  so  small  as 
to  preclude  an  abundance  of  what  may  be  termed  the  "laboratory"  or  "clinical""  ma* 
terial  of  a  teacher-training  program, — namely,  elementary  and  secondary  pupils. 
Where  schools  have  been  thus  located,  their  only  salvation  lies  In  an  arrangement 
whereby  all  of  the  local  public  schools  may  be  available  for  training-school  purposes 
under  the  direct  control  of  the  training  department  of  the  normal  school.  Even  where 
a  good  sized  independent  training  school  is  possible,  it  is  extremely  desirable  for  the 
local  school  system  to  be  related  to  the  normal  school  in  such  a  manner  as  to  afford 
opportunity  for  extensive  observation,  participation,  and  practice  under  wholly  nor- 
mal conditions.  In  larger  towns  and  cities,  the  training  school  may  well  be  a  ward 
or  district  school  of  the  public  school  system.  Care  must  be  taken  in  organizing  a 
training  school  under  this  plan,  and  infinite  tact  must  characterize  its  administration. 
There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  a  town,  especially  a  small  town,  is  under  great  and 
constant  obligations  to  a  state  normal  school  located  within  its  limits.  Nor  is  there 
doubt  that  a  well-managed  normal  school,  with  its  expert  knowledge  and  its  thor- 
ough supervision,  would  almost  invariably  give  such  a  town  a  better  school  or  school 
system  than  the  town  could  provide  for  itself.  There  is  every  reason,  therefore,  why 
an  arrangement  so  vital  to  the  school  should  be  required  of  the  community  as  a  con- 
dition of  retaining  the  school. 

This  appropriation  of  local  school  facilities  for  training-school  purposes  has  pro- 
ceeded apace  during  the  past  few  years  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  where 
soundly  organized  has  proved  successful.  Generally  speaking,  the  policies  of  the  school 
that  is  used  for  training  purposes  must  be  determined  by  the  normal  school  author- 
ities; a  plan  of  dual  control  thru  which  responsibility  and  authority  are  divided  be- 
tween the  local  superintendent  or  school  board  on  the  one  hand  and  the  normal 
school  on  the  other  hand  is  very  hard  to  administer*  Where  difficulty  is  found  in 
winning  support  for  the  plan  in  a  community,  some  financial  inducement,  such  as 
the  payment  of  teachers  by  the  normal  school,  must  be  resorted  to.  Even  in  case  of 
a  state  school  the  character  of  the  situation  is  of  such  delicacy  that  it  would  probably 
be  wise  to  guarantee  the  community  such  facilities  as  it  would  not  purchase  for  itself, 
in  return  for  complete  educational  control  of  its  schools. 

MINIMAL  STANDARDS  OF  PRACTICE  FACILITIES 

Whatever  its  arrangements,  a  normal  school  should  not  attempt  to  attract  stu- 
dents out  of  proportion  to  its  laboratory  facilities.  It  becomes  important,  then,  to 
agree  upon  certain  minimal  standards  which  will  indicate  the  enrolment  that  a  train- 
ing school  should  have  if  the  normal  school  is  to  do  the  work  that  it  proposes.  It  is 
in  connection  with  practice  teaching,  rather  than  with  observation  and  participation, 
that  the  need  for  a  sufficient  number  of  pupils  is  most  imperative;  consequently  the 
size  of  the  "practice  class"  may  be  taken  as  the  unit  from  which  to  work  in  construct- 


194  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

ing  a  minimal  standard.  In  the  provisional  curricula  for  teacher- training  institutions 
which  were  distributed  by  the  Foundation1  in  1917  for  criticisms  and  suggestions, 
the  minimal  size  of  the  practice  class  was  assumed  to  be  twelve  pupils.  The  replies 
from  the  critics  of  these  curricula  indicated  a  general  conviction  that  this  minimum 
was  too  low.  The  questionnaire  investigation  of  training-school  organization  made  by 
A.  M.  Santee2  in  1917  showed  the  median  size  of  the  practice  class  in  seventy  state 
normal  schools  to  be  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  pupils.  In  view  of  these  facts,  it  is 
probable  that  the  unit  should  number  at  least  fifteen  pupils  in  the  sense  that  the 
training  school  should  be  able  to  provide  sections  of  at  least  this  size  for  all  of  the 
students  who  are  assigned  to  practice  teaching  during  any  one  term.  This  does  not 
mean  that  the  teaching  of  smaller  sections  is  not  sometimes  both  desirable  and  profit- 
able. In  what  has  been  referred  to  as  "  participation,"  it  is  often  well  to  have  a  stu- 
dent conduct  an  exercise  with  four,  five,  or  six  pupils,  or  even  with  a  single  individ- 
ual. Practice  teaching,  however,  should  be  done  under  conditions  measurably  sim- 
ilar to  those  of  public  school  organization,  and  while  fifteen  pupils  would  be  a  much 
smaller  group  than  the  average  public  school  class,  the  number  is  sufficient  to  present 
most  of  the  problems  of  control,  organization,  and  group  teaching  with  which  the 
student-teacher  should  become  familiar.  For  the  beginning  teacher  a  class  of  this  size 
is  to  be  preferred  either  to  the  very  large  or  to  the  very  small  group,  altho  before 
completing  the  coarse  each  student  should  have  some  experience  in  managing  a  large 
class  of  thirty  to  forty  pupils. 

The  total  number  of  pupils  needed  in  the  training  school  is,  obviously,  not  to  be  de- 
termined simply  by  multiplying  the  number  of  pupils  in  the  unit  practice  class  by  the 
number  of  student- teachers.  In  the  first  place,  the  student  in  all  likelihood  will  not 
teach  during  the  entire  day,  consequently  one  section  of  pupils  will  provide  practice 
for  more  than  one  student- teacher.  The  amount  of  practice  teaching  required  varies 
widely  among  the  different  normal  schools.  In  somewhat  more  than  one-half  of  the 
seventy  state  normal  schools  already  referred  to,  a  full  year  of  teaching  is  required, 
but,  in  most  cases,  only  one  period  each  day  is  given  to  this  work.  In  other  schools 
the  teaching  is  concentrated  within  shorter  periods,  but  a  longer  time  is  required 
each  day.  In  computing  the  needed  enrolment  of  the  training  school,  therefore,  this 
variable  must  be  determined  in  each  case.  A  second  factor  can  for  our  purposes  be 
reduced  to  a  constant.  While  in  nearly  one-half  of  all  training  schools  all  of  the 
actual  teaching  is  done  by  student-teachers,  this  practice  is  open  to  grave  criti- 
cism. It  may  be  kid  down  as  a  fundamental  rule  of  training-school  organization  that 
certainly  not  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  work  of  any  training-school  pupil 
should  be  under  the  direction  of  practice  teachers,  and  the  limitation  of  this  propor- 
tion to  one-half  would  be  much  better.  By  taking  into  account  all  of  these  factors, 

1  Curricula  Designed  for  the  Professional  Preparation  of  Teachers  for  American  Public  Schools,  Carnegie  Foun- 
dation, 1917. 

2  The  Organization  and  Administration  of  Practice  Teaching  in  State  Normal  Schools,  A.  M.  Santee.  See  School 
and  Home  Education,  September,  1917. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING  195 

it  would  be  a  relatively  simple  matter  to  determine  the  smallest  number  of  pupils 
that  must  be  in  attendance  upon  the  training  school  if  the  requirements  laid  down 
by  the  normal  school  for  the  courses  in  practice  teaching  are  to  be  met.  Adding  fif- 
teen per  cent  to  allow  for  the  relation  between  enrolment  and  attendance,  and  an- 
other fifteen  per  cent  as  a  margin  to  ensure  sections  of  at  least  fifteen  pupils,  simple 
formulae  may  be  constructed  involving  these  factors  and  proportions  thus: 


if  three-  fourths  of  the  teaching  is  to  be  done  by  student-  teachers  ;  or 


if  one-half  of  the  teaching  is  to  be  done  by  student-teachers. 
In  both  of  these  formulae: 
n  =  minimal  training-school  enrolment. 
s  =  number  of  students  to  whom  practice-teaching  privileges  must  be  available 

each  year. 
c  =  number  of  recitation  units  during  which  each  student  will  be  in  charge  of 

a  section  each  week. 
<m  =  proportion  of  total  year  during  which  practice  teaching  is  required  of  each 

student. 

t  =  approximate  number  of  recitation  units  in  the  training  school  each  week. 
(Under  ordinary  conditions  this  may  be  considered  as  thirty,  or  six  periods 
each  day  for  five  days.) 

It  is  interesting  to  apply  these  formulae  to  the  Missouri  normal  schools,1  but  in 
so  doing  one  should  remember  that  the  requirements  for  practice  teaching  in  all  of 
the  schools  are  unusually  low,  and  that  consequently  the  enrolment  in  the  training 
schools,  while  quite  inadequate  even  to  these  low  requirements,  would  be  hopelessly 
deficient  if  practice  teaching  were  required  in  all  curricula,  as  it  should  be,  or  if  the 

Enrolment  in  Training  School  Actual 

Institution                                    if  Minimal  Standards  Enrolment  in 

had  been  met  Training  School 
a                                  b 

.  Kirksville                                      315                           215  145s 

Warrensburg                                945                           630  325 

Cape  Glrardeau                           434                           289  161 

Springfield                                     456                            304  245 

Maryville                                     216                           144  104 


a  If  one-half  of  the  teaching  were  done  by  student-teachers. 

b  If  three-fourths  of  the  teaching*  were  done  by  student-teachers. 

1  In  making  these  calculations,  the  number  of  students  in  the  graduating  classes  (1916)  in  curricula  that  include 
stated  requirements  in  practice  teaching  and  the  time  requirements  for  practice  teaching  as  stated  in  the  catalogue 
of  the  school  were  used  as  bases  of  the  computation.  The  enrolments  of  the  training  schools  were  reported  by  the 
directors  of  the  training  departments  in  the  fall  of  1917.  In  taking  the  number  of  students  who  graduate  as  an  index 
of  the  number  for  whom  practice  teaching  must  have  been  provided,  the  error,  of  course,  is  in  favor  of  the  school, 
for  in  all  probability  fewer  students  graduate  each  year  (from  the  curricula  requiring  practice  teaching)  than  are 
enrolled  in  practice-teaching  courses  during  that  year. 

2  Enrolment  for  winter  term,  1918-19.  No  report  for  1917. 


196 


ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 


present  requirements  were  appropriately  increased  in  the  curricula  in  which  practice 
teaching  now  finds  a  place. 

The  important  point  is  that  all  of  these  institutions  are  limited  in  their  laboratory 
facilities  to  independent  practice  schools.  On  the  other  hand,  the  city  training  schools 
and  such  state  normal  schools  as  have  taken  over  the  control  of  local  schools  are  gen- 
erally able  to  provide  laboratory  facilities  in  abundance.  Harris  Teachers  College  has 
under  its  immediate  control,  for  example,  the  Wyman  School,  a  typical  elementary 
school  enrolling  over  one  thousand  pupils.  This  school,  which  adjoins  the  college 
building,  is  used  exclusively  for  purposes  of  observation  and  demonstration,  the 
actual  practice  teaching  being  done  in  selected  elementary  schools  in  various  parts 
of  the  city.  In  general  the  facilities  for  observation  and  practice  in  the  city  training 
schools  are  in  startling  contrast  to  the  facilities  in  the  Missouri  normal  schools,  none 
of  which  has  made  the  cooperative  arrangement  referred  to  above.  The  very  large 
differences  that  may  exist  are  illustrated  in  the  following  table: 


STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  CONTROLLING- 
ONE  OR  MORE  LOCAL  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 
School 


Gunnison,  Col.1 
Harrisonburg,  Va.a 
Westfield,  Mass.1 
Dillon,  Mont.55 
De  Kalb,  111.3 
Keene,  N.  H.1 


Colle- 
giate 
Enrol- 
ment 

Pupils 
Avail- 
able 

Batio 
Students 
to 
Pupils 

178 

246 

1:1.4 

289 

1000 

1  :  3.5 

i6r 

500 

1:3 

242 

600 

1:2.5 

405 

648 

1:1.6 

170 

1300 

1:7.6 

STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  LIMITED  TO 
INDEPENDENT  PRACTICE  SCHOOLS 

School 


KirksviUe,  Mo.3 
Warrensburg,  Mo.3 
Cape  Girardeau,  Mo.8 
Springfield,  Mo.3 
Maryville,  Mo.3 
Valley  City,  N.  D.1 
Whitewater,  Wis.3 


Colle- 

Pupils 

Ratio 

ffiate 

Avail- 

Student* 

Enrol- 

able 

to 

ment 

Pupils 

530 

145 

1  :  0.27 

514* 

325 

1:0.63 

432 

161 

1  :  0.37 

607 

245 

1:0.40 

200 

104 

1  :  0.52 

327 

259 

1:0.79 

374 

211 

1  :  0.56 

The  above  table  gives  simply  the  gross  proportions  between  the  actual  number 
of  students  enrolled  in  the  various  schools  and  the  number  of  pupils  available  for 
observation  and  practice  teaching.  While  this  is  not  a  sound  basis  for  determining 
whether  the  laboratory  facilities  of  any  one  school  are  adequate,  it  constitutes  a  fair 
method  of  contrasting  the  situation  in  the  two  types  of  schools  under  discussion. 

The  table  plainly  suggests  the  very  great  advantage  of  securing  control  of  the  local 
public  schools  for  observation  and  practice  teaching.  What  this  would  mean  for  the 
four  Missouri  normal  schools  that  are  located  in  relatively  small  communities  is  indi- 
cated by  the  following  table: 


1  Catalogue,  1918. 
3  Catalogue,"  1917. 

3  The  enrolments  for  the  Missouri  normal  schools  are  taken  from  the  table  given  in  the  report  of  the  State  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction  for  1916,  except  that  in  the  case  of  Cape  Girardeau,  which  apparently  failed  to  re- 
port for  1915-16,  the  figures  are  for  the  preceding  year.  In  each  case,  the  enrolment  as  given  includes  those  students 
who  were  registered  from  September  to  May.  This  excludes  the  large  enrolment  in  the  summer  quarter. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING  197 

School  Total  Training  Public  ScJiool  Ratio  of  Students 

Collegiate  School  Enrolment  to  Pupils  Possible  if 

Students  Enrolment  of  Normal  School  controlled 

Community  Local  Schools 

Kirksville  530  145  1502  1:2.8 

Warrenstmrg  514  335  1007  1 : 2.0 

Cape  Girardeau  432  161  2035  1:4.7 

Maryville  200  104  1027  1:5.1 

With  such  laboratory  facilities  as  this  arrangement  would  provide,  the  normal 
schools  of  Missouri  would  be  in  a  position  to  do  their  work  in  a  manner  befitting 
its  importance  to  the  state.  Certainly  no  town  or  city  should  be  the  seat  of  a  state 
normal  school  unless  it  is  willing  to  turn  over  to  the  state  institution  either  all  of 
its  local  schools  or  a  sufficient  number  to  provide  ample  facilities  for  demonstration, 
participation,  practice  teaching,  and  experimental  education.  It  will  almost  certainly 
profit  thereby  both  educationally  and  financially,  and  for  the  normal  school  the 
arrangement  is  indispensable.  If  Kirksville  or  Warrensburg,  for  example,  had  full 
use  of  the  local  public  schools,  its  laboratory  equipment  would  even  then  be  none  too 
extensive  for  the  work  that  it  is  already  under  obligation  to  do.1 

(&)  HOUSING  AND  EQUIPMENT  OF  TRAINING  DEPARTMENTS 

A  second  reason  for  the  general  inadequacy  of  the  courses  in  observation  and  prac- 
tice teaching  may  be  found  in  the  subordinate  position  that  the  training  school  has 
often  been  forced  to  assume  in  its  relationships  with  other  normal  school  departments. 
This  subordination  is  noticeably  revealed  in  the  neglect  in  many  cases  to  provide  for 
the  training  school  quarters  and  equipment  that  are  at  all  comparable  either  with  the 
quarters  and  equipment  provided  for  the  normal  school  classes,  or  with  what  the  better 
school  systems  provide  for  their  elementary  schools. 

In  Missouri  the  situation  in  this  respect  varies  among  the  different  schools.  At 
Kirksville,  a  "model"  rural  school  building  on  the  campus  houses  the  twenty  or  thirty 
rural  school  pupils  who  are  brought  in  from  the  surrounding  country,  but  the  prac- 
tice school  proper  is  quartered  in  one  of  the  main  buildings,  partly  in  small  inside 
rooms  and  in  a  dark  basement.  Warrensburg  had  provided  a  separate  training-school 
building  as  early  as  1908,  and  since  the  fire  of  1915  has  rebuilt  and  improved  it.  Cape 
Girardeau  has  had  a  separate  building  for  the  training  school  since  1908.  It  is  con- 
structed of  stone  and  externally  compares  well  with  the  main  normal  school  build- 
ing; its  interior  arrangements,  however,  are  not  well  adapted  to  its  purpose,  nor  is 
the  equipment  relatively  as  good  as  that  of  the  main  building,  where  spacious  "soci- 
ety" rooms  are  idle  most  of  the  time.  At  Springfield  a  small  and  quite  inadequate 
building,  the  "Greenwood  School,"  just  off  the  campus,  provides  accommodations  for 
about  two  hundred  pupils  representing  Grades  III  to  VIII  inclusive,  while  Grades  I, 
II,  IX,  and  X  are  located  in  the  basement  of  the  main  building;  this  basement,  how- 

1  In  tlie  Province  of  Ontario,  the  municipalities  in  which  institutions  for  the  professional  preparation  of  teachers 
are  located*  freely  grive  over  their  elementary  and  secondary  schools  for  observation  and  practice  purposes. 


198  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

ever,  is  high  and  light,  and  the  situation  is  better  than  at  Kirksville.  At  Maryville 
the  training  school  occupies  commodious  and  comfortable  quarters  on  the  first  floor 
of  the  main  building. 

The  conditions  at  Kirksville  are  deplorable,  and  furnish  a  most  uninspiring  example 
to  prospective  teachers.  When  the  school  was  visited  in  the  spring  of  1915,  the  first 
two  grades  were  discovered  in  the  basement  of  the  main  building  in  rooms  thoroughly 
unsuited  to  the  uses  to  which  they  were  put.  One  would  assume  that,  if  adequate 
quarters  could  not  be  furnished  to  all,  the  smallest  and  most  helpless  children  would 
have  first  attention;  and  one  would  also  assume  that,  if  either  normal  school  students 
or  training-school  pupils  must  find  quarters  in  the  basement,  it  would  be  the  former 
rather  than  the  latter,  for  not  only  are  the  former  the  more  mature,  but  as  their  daily 
programs  are  the  more  varied,  there  is  much  more  movement  from  room  to  room,  and 
the  actual  time  spent  in  the  classroom  each  day  is  appreciably  shorter.  Furthermore, 
prospective  teachers  could  have  no  better  object  lesson  than  the  assignment  of  the 
best  quarters  available  to  the  use  of  the  training  school.  These  considerations  do  not 
seem  to  have  appealed  to  the  Kirksville  authorities.  Not  only  was  the  location  of  the 
training-school  rooms  unfortunate;  the  furniture  in  these  rooms  was  in  a  bad  condi- 
tion. The  desks  were  hacked  and  cut,  and  while  some  of  the  desks  and  seats  were 
adjustable,  the  adjustments  had  either  been  made  carelessly  or  neglected  altogether; 
some  desk  tops  stood  at  a  sharp  angle. 

BAD  CONDITIONS  EASILY  REMEDIED 

In  practically  all  of  the  training  schools  the  hygienic  conditions  of  the  classrooms 
left  much  to  be  desired.  Faulty  lighting,1  while  not  universal  among  the  schools,  was 
met  with  frequently;  the  posture  of  the  pupils  was  noticeably  bad  in  every  school 
except  one;  poor  blackboards  were  found  all  too  commonly.  If  there  is  any  single, 
simple  thing  that  the  normal  school  can  do  in  the  preparation  of  teachers,  it  is  to 
acquaint  its  students  with  hygienic  standards,  impel  them  to  form  habits  that  will 
enable  them  to  look  after  these  matters  automatically,  and  develop  in  them  a  sensi- 
tiveness to  unhygienic  conditions  that  will  detect  at  once  defects  so  easily  remedied 
as  those  just  mentioned.  There  may  be  some  excuse  for  a  normal  school  that  fails  to 
train  all  of  its  students  adequately  to  apply  every  principle  of  teaching;  there  can  be 
no  excuse  for  failure  to  look  after  fundamental  duties,  especially  when  they  demand 
but  a  minimum  of  thought  and  depend  on  simple  habits  that  any  one  may  acquire 
if  only  example  and  a  little  drill  are  added  to  brief  instructions. 

The  housing  and  equipment  of  the  training  schools,  as  has  been  suggested,  are 
primarily  significant  to  the  present  discussion  because  they  reveal  a  characteristic 
status  of  the  training  department  that  is  fatal  to  its  efficiency.  In  too  many  normal 
schools  throughout  the  country,  the  training  school  is  in  the  "basement,"  and  the 

1  Especially  lighting  from  the  right  hand  or  from  two  sides  without  carein  providing  shades  to  prevent  cross  shadows. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING  199 

phrases,  "going  down  for  practice,"  "the  people  downstairs,"  and  the  like,  have  much 
more  than  a  localized  vogue,  as  well  as  much  more  than  a  literal  implication. 

(c)  RELATION  BETWEEN  THE  TRAINING  SCHOOL  AND  OTHER  NORMAL  SCHOOL  DEPART- 
MENTS 

By  far  the  most  significant  weakness  of  the  courses  in  observation,  participation, 
and  practice  teaching  is  the  general  lack  of  a  satisfactory  correlation  of  all  of  the  work 
of  the  normal  school  with  the  training  school.  Not  only  does  the  training  school  as  a 
rule  occupy  a  subordinate  position  in  the  normal  school  organization  instead  of  being 
the  pivotal  point  and  focus  of  all  departments,  but  the  work  of  the  training  school 
seems  in  many,  if  not  most,  cases  to  be  detached,  to  lack  a  fundamental  relation  to 
what  is  taught  and  learned  in  the  classrooms  "upstairs.""  It  is  no  unusual  thing  for 
the  normal  school  student  to  complain  that  the  theory  that  has  been  taught  to  him 
in  the  courses  in  psychology,  principles  of  teaching,  and  special  methods  (to  say 
nothing  of  the  purely  "academic""  courses)  has  no  perceptible  connection  with  the 
work  of  the  training  school.  This  is  sometimes  due,  no  doubt,  to  the  fact  that  the 
"theory"  is  impracticable,  and  that  those  responsible  for  the  practice  teaching  know 
it,  and  in  consequence  will  have  no  commerce  with  it;  but  it  is  oftener  due  merely 
to  a  complete  mechanical  separation  of  the  training  department  both  from  the  de- 
partment of  educational  theory  and  from  the  academic  departments, — a  separation 
which  results  in  the  total  ignorance  of  each  party  regarding  what  the  other  is  teach- 
ing or  practising,  if  not,  indeed,  in  actual  opposition  or  open  friction. 

LACK  OF  COOPERATION  IN  MISSOURI  SCHOOLS 

A  striking  example  of  this  lack  of  cooperation  between  the  training  department 
and  the  rest  of  the  school  was  revealed  in  the  situation  that  existed  in  the  school  at 
Warrensburg  at  the  time  of  the  visits  made  in  connection  with  the  present  study.  A 
serious  and  long-standing  cleavage  in  the  faculty  as  a  whole  had  thrown  the  training 
department  and  the  department  of  education  into  opposing  camps.  Partly  because  of 
this  unfortunate  condition  and  partly  because  the  traditions  of  the  normal  school  had 
not  granted  a  central  position  to  the  training  department,  the  work  of  this  depart- 
ment was  completely  "a  thing  apart,"  bearing  no  discoverable  relation  to  the  other 
activities  of  the  institution.  Out  of  fifteen  teachers  of  academic  subjects,  only  one  re- 
ported that  he  had  assumed  any  responsibility  whatsoever  for  work  in  the  training 
school,  and  out  of  eighteen  teachers  who  were  asked  to  express  an  opinion  on  the  effec- 
tiveness of  the  practice  teaching,  ten  reported  unfavorably,  seven  did  not  answer  the 
enquiry,  and  only  one  had  a  favorable  opinion.1 

1  Some  of  the  replies  to  the  questions  regarding  the  practice  teaching  are  illuminating: 

"I  am  not  directly  responsible  for  the  supervision  of  practice  teaching  in  the  subjects  I  teach.  I  do  not  share  indi- 
rectly in  such  supervision.  If  there  is  any  working  harmony  between  the  department  of ...  and  the  training  school, 
it  is  incidental  or  accidental  so  far  as  I  know  or  believe." 

"Practice  teaching  under  present  conditions  is  markedly  inefficient,  due  partly  to  frequent  changes  or  shifting 
Of  practice  teachers,  partly  to  conflicts  of  methods  and  ideals  of  supervisors  and  other  teachers .  The  supervisors 


200  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

A  sharp  contrast  to  the  condition  at  Warrensburg  was  found  at  Kirksville.  Here 
the  members  of  the  academic  departments  had  been  encouraged  to  cooperate  with 
the  training  school,  with  the  result  that  six  out  of  nineteen  academic  teachers  reported 
a  direct  responsibility  for  the  supervision  of  practice  teaching,  while  six  more  reported 
an  indirect  responsibility  which  seemed  to  indicate  at  least  an  intelligent  interest. 
With  this  spirit  of  cooperation,  the  responses  of  the  academic  teachers  naturally  re- 
veal a  much  more  sympathetic  attitude  toward  the  work  of  the  school,  fourteen  report- 
ing favorably,  seven  unfavorably,  and  six  not  replying.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
while  the  academic  teachers  of  Kirksville  were  much  more  inclined  to  judge  the  prac- 
tice work  favorably  than  were  the  academic  teachers  of  Warrensburg,  the  practice 
school  at  Kirksville  was  judged  by  the  four  representatives  of  the  present  study  to 
be  inferior  to  the  practice  school  at  Warrensburg,  and  the  tests  made  in  both  prac- 
tice schools1  showed  the  same  result.  The  psychological  effect -of  making  a  person 
responsible  in  some  measure  for  activities  that  he  would  otherwise  be  disposed  to 
criticise  may  be  seen  in  this  contrast.  If  it  be  argued  that  there  is  a  danger  in  this, 
it  may  likewise  be  urged  that  hearty  cooperation,  while  tending  to  gloss  over  some 
defects,  can  much  more  easily  be  turned  toward  progress  than  can  divided  and  mutu- 
ally repellent  interests  with  their  jealousies  and  misunderstandings. 

At  Kirksville,  however,  a  commendable  interest  in  the  training  school  on  the  part 
of  the  academic  staff  is  somewhat  offset  by  an  anomalous  lack  of  cooperation  between 
the  training  department  and  the  department  of  education.  The  head  of  the  latter  de- 
partment, who  himself  teaches  practically  all  of  the  classes  in  educational  theory,  has 
no  official  means  of  knowing  how  his  theories  work  in  practice,  nor  has  the  director  of 
the  practice  school  an  official  relationship  to  the  work  in  theory.  The  most  obvious 
defect  of  the  organization  at  Kirksville,  and  the  one  that  is  doubtless  chiefly  responsi- 
ble for  the  weakness  of  the  training  school  as  a  school,  lies  in  the  lack  of  something 
that  is  just  as  important  as  cooperation ;  namely,  a  centralization  of  administrative 
authority.  This  is  theoretically  provided  for  in  the  office  of  "Supervisor  of  Practice 
Schools,"  which  has  been  assumed  by  the  president  in  addition  to  his  other  duties.  In 
so  far  as  could  be  determined,  however,  this  officer  fails  to  direct  and  coordinate  the 
work  of  the  supervisors,  and  the  principal  of  the  practice  school,  who  is  a  director  of 
training  only  by  courtesy,  has  no  authority  for  the  purpose.  Each  individual  super- 
visor is  essentially  a  law  unto  himself,  making  his  own  course  of  study  for  the  different 

of ...  practice  teaching  and  the  members  of  the  faculty  in  ...  should  be  in  close  cooperation,  or  the  training  school 
.  .  .  should  be  under  the  supervision  of  the  . .  .  department." 

"I  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  practice  teaching:.  It  sometimes  happens  that  the  methods  in  the  training  school 
and  those  presented  in  my  own  classes  are  very  different.'1 

"  I  am  not  permitted  to  do  any  such  supervisory  work.  Of  course  I  could  visit  as  an  outsider.  I  know  there  is  no 
relation  between  [my  subject]  in  the  normal  school  and  in  the  training  school.  I  should  like  to  attempt  to  relate 
the  two  but  was  told  such  is  in  no  way  my  work." 

"My  view  really  is  that  the  training  school  is  the  laboratory  of  the  normal  school.  I  should  like  to  work  out  many 
things  there.  An  entire  readjustment  of  the  relation  of  the  training  school  and  our  normal  work  is,  I  think,  vitally 
necessary,  if  we  ever  reach  efficiency." 

"...  closer  correlation  and  more  unity  between  methods  of  academic  departments  and  those  of  training-school 
supervisors  would  be  of  some  advantage," 
1  See  pages  443ff. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING 

grades,  and  determining  Ms  own  standards  of  progress  both  for  the  student- teachers 
under  his  control  and  for  the  pupils  in  their  classes.  Cooperation  of  academic  depart- 
ments in  the  work  of  the  training  school  is  indispensable  to  the  best  work,  but  to  turn 
each  department  of  the  training  school  over  bodily  to  the  corresponding  academic 
department  which  goes  its  own  separate  way  is  not  cooperation  but  dismemberment. 
Kirksville  and  Warrensburg  represent  two  undesirable  extremes;  the  other  schools 
will  fall  somewhere  between  the  two  as  far  as  the  organization  of  the  training-school 
work  is  concerned*  At  Cape  Girardeau,  the  head  of  the  training  department  gives  cer- 
tain of  the  courses  in  theory,  but  he  is  not  responsible  for  all  of  the  theoretical  work. 
The  academic  departments  apparently  have  little  interest  in  the  training  school.  At 
Springfield,  the  head  of  the  training  department  is  also  head  of  the  department  of 
education,  including  psychology,  and  in  this  way  a  praiseworthy  coordination  of  the 
courses  in  theory  and  practice  is  ensured.  The  relations  with  the  academic  depart- 
ments are  also  much  more  intelligent  and  cordial  than  at  Cape  Girardeau  and  War- 
rensburg, Teachers  of  academic  subjects,  some  occasionally  and  others  frequently, 
teach  school  classes  to  illustrate  their  courses  in  special  methods;  this  is  particularly 
true  of  the  teachers  who  have  charge  of  the  methods  courses  in  arithmetic  and  geog- 
raphy. So  far  as  could  be  learned,  however,  this  cooperation  is  informal.  At  Mary- 
ville,  too,  the  department  of  education  and  the  training  school  are  under  a  single 
head,  but  there  is  no  official  relation  between  these  departments  and  the  academic 
departments,  and  the  teachers  of  the  academic  subjects  are  apparently  unconcerned 
as  to  the  work  of  the  training  school. 

DIFFICULTIES  OF  COOPERATION 

There  are  many  difficulties  in  the  way  of  effecting  a  thoroughly  unitary  organiza- 
tion of  normal  school  work.  Subject-matter  specialists  find  it  hard  to  see  the  ele- 
mentary and  secondary  programs  as  wholes,  for  their  own  subjects  naturally  loom 
large  in  every  view  that  they  take;  furthermore,  they  often  lack  the  personal  equip- 
ment and  the  specialized  training  that  should  characterize  a  good  critic.  As  has  al- 
ready been  said  of  the  curricula  of  the  normal  schools,  a  curriculum  framed  for  a 
practice  school  by  a  committee  of  subject-matter  specialists  is  almost  certain  to  be  a 
compromise  among  the  different  claimants  for  time  and  precedence  rather  than  a  well- 
articulated  structure  in  which  the  needs  of  the  pupils  for  a  balanced  and  unified  pro- 
gram of  instruction  are  the  sole  criteria  for  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  mate- 
rials. A  second  difficulty  lies  in  the  practical  impossibility  of  administering  a  practice 
school  on  the  committee  plan.  Here  centralized  authority,  balanced  by  centralized 
responsibility,  is  a  sww  qua  non  of  efficiency. 

ORGANIZED  COOPERATION 

The  desired  interlinking  of  all  normal  school  departments  with  the  training  school 
is  certainly  not  to  be  realized  by  turning  over  the  practice  teaching  to  the  control 


ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

either  of  the  general  normal  school  faculty  or  of  a  committee  representing  the  vari- 
ous academic  departments.  The  training  school  must  be  under  the  direct  control  and 
supervision  of  an  expert  administrator  fitted  by  experience  and  by  specialized  train- 
ing for  this  type  of  work,  and  this  director  or  superintendent  must  have  under  his 
immediate  charge  a  corps  of  carefully  selected  and  specifically  trained  critics  or  super- 
visors. The  supervisory  staff  should  include  many,  if  not  most,  of  the  members  of 
the  so-called  academic  departments,  and  the  entire  group  should  form  what  might 
be  termed  a  training-school  "cabinet."  This  body  should  legislate  upon  all  matters 
concerning  the  organization  of  the  training-school  curriculum  and  questions  of  edu- 
cational policy;  the  superintendent  or  director,  as  the  officer  in  whom  administrative 
responsibility  is  lodged,  should  have  authority  to  make  decisions  upon  all  matters  of 
administration,  with  the  provision  that  any  other  member  of  the  cabinet  may  appeal 
from  his  decisions  to  a  higher  administrative  authority. 

A  plan  of  this  sort  would  ensure  (1)  the  administrative  autonomy  of  the  practice 
school  under  a  single  responsible  head,  and  (£)  the  responsible  cooperation  of  all 
academic  departments  and  all  members  of  the  critic  staff  in  the  organization  of  the 
school,  the  construction  of  the  curriculum,  and  the  oversight  of  the  student-teachers. 
The  chief  difficulty  in  carrying  out  this  plan  under  present  conditions  is  serious  but 
not  insurmountable.  It  would  require  that  appointments  to  all  important  positions 
in  the  academic  departments  be  limited  to  persons  who  are  qualified  by  personality, 
experience,  and  training  to  participate  in  the  responsibilities  that  it  is  proposed  to 
delegate  to  the  members  of  the  practice  school  cabinet.  It  would  mean,  in  other  words, 
that  there  would  be  but  a  very  subordinate  place  in  the  normal  school  organization, 
or  none  at  all,  for  the  teacher  who  is  merely  a  specialist  in  his  subject-matter.  The 
requirement  of  the  special  abilities  needed  for  intelligent  cooperation  is  after  all 
nothing  but  the  characteristic  differentia  of  a  professional  school  for  teachers,  and 
should  be  faced  as  frankly  as  similar  restrictions  are  faced  in  all  other  genuinely  pro- 
fessional institutions. 

Needless  to  say,  the  relationship  between  the  department  of  education  and  the 
training  department  should  be  particularly  close  and  intimate,  and  to  this  end  it  is 
advisable,  we  believe,  to  combine  the  headship  of  the  department  of  education  and 
the  directorship  of  the  training  department  in  one  and  the  same  person.  The  other 
members  of  the  staff  in  education  should  also  have  definite  responsibilities  in  the  ad- 
ministration and  supervision  of  the  training  school  to  the  end  that  every  class  in  edu- 
cational theory  may  be  in  charge  of  a  teacher  who  is  in  daily  touch  with  the  actual 
problems  of  teaching  and  management  in  an  elementary  or  a  secondary  school. 

(d)  THE  APPRENTICE  SYSTEM  AS  BELATED  TO  THE  UNIFICATION  OF  COURSES 

In  so  far  as  the  coordination  of  all  courses  is  concerned,  the  Harris  Teachers  College 
stands  in  sharp  contrast  with  even  the  best  of  the  state  normal  schools.  Each  instructor 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING  203 

apparently  works  with  a  perfect  knowledge  of  what  the  other  instructors  are  doing,1 
and  all  instructors  make  a  large  use  of  the  facilities  which  the  Wyman  School  offers 
for  observation  and  demonstration.  The  actual  work  of  practice  teaching,  however, 
is  conducted  on  the  apprentice  plan,  the  principal  of  the  school  to  which  the  cadet, 
is  sent  being  chiefly  responsible  for  the  work,  altho  his  supervision  is  supplemented  by 
that  of  the  regular  supervisors  of  the  school  system.  Thus  a  dualism  quite  analogous 
to  that  existing  in  the  state  normal  schools  is  brought  into  existence  at  a  most  crit- 
ical point.  The  characteristics  of  the  system  may  be  summarized  as  follows: 

DEFECTS  AND  ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  SYSTEM  AT  ST.  Louis 

1.  The  teachers  who  have  conducted  the  courses  in  theory  and  observation  are  in  no 
position  to  ensure  the  success  of  their  students  or  of  their  theories  in  practice.  Indeed, 
the  principal  in  charge  of  a  cadet  may  be  out  of  sympathy  with  the  ideals  of  the  col- 
lege, and  the  student  may  be  quite  unable  to  carry  out  in  practice  the  principles  taught 
there.  In  at  least  two  of  the  elementary  schools  visited  in  1915  and  1916,  a  situation 
of  this  sort  was  apparent. 

2.  The  amount  and  especially  the  quality  of  the  supervision  that  the  student-teacher 
receives  under  this  system  are  extremely  variable.  In  many  cases  the  actual  supervision 
of  the  practice  is  delegated  to  the  classroom  teachers  in  whose  rooms  the  cadets  chance 
to  be  working.  Altho  selected  for  their  merit,  very  few  of  these  teachers  are  skilled  in 
the  difficult  work  of  training  beginners,  and  while  in  some  cases,  no  doubt,  the  results 
are  excellent,  this  fortunate  outcome  must  be  looked  upon  as  more  or  less  accidental. 

3.  Nor  are  the  principals  themselves  always  competent  for  the  task  of  directing 
the  beginner.  Like  the  teachers,  they  vary  widely,  both  as  to  their  ideals  of  what  con- 
stitutes good  teaching  and  as  to  their  ability  to  point  out  defects  and  suggest  reme- 
dies. Altho  in  many  cases,  as  one  might  infer,  they  do  most  creditable  work,  the  ap- 
prentice must  run  a  chance  of  assignment  to  a  principal  who,  however  good  he  may 
be  from  other  points  of  view,  is  not  a  good  supervisor  of  beginning  teachers. 

It  may  be  urged  that  these  disadvantages,  even  if  they  are  admitted,  do  not  con- 
stitute a  serious  indictment  of  the  apprentice  system,  for  after  leaving  the  training 
school  the  young  teacher  will  in  any  case  run  chances  of  working  under  incompetent 
supervision.  This  contention  overlooks  the  fact  that  teachers  who  have  been  well 
started  in  the  development  of  an  effective  technique  will  to  that  extent  be  safeguarded 
against  the  dangers  of  this  incompetence.  If  it  be  granted  that  the  supervision  of  be- 
ginners is  a  difficult  task,  requiring  both  exceptional  native  qualities  and  specialized 
training,  it  should  follow  that  the  initial  practice  teaching  may  best  be  undertaken 
under  the  immediate  and  responsible  supervision  of  well-equipped  critics  who  give  the 
bulk  of  their  time  and  energy  to  this  task. 

1  When  Harris  Teachers  College  was  visited,  the  entire  facility  was  in  the  midst  of  a  careful  review  of  the  curricu- 
lum, topic  by  topic  in  each  course.  This  is  a  periodic  occurrence,  and  is  undertaken  less  for  the  purpose  of  revision 
than  to  guarantee  a  perfect  mutual  understanding  on  the  part  of  each  instructor  as  to  just  what  his  contribution 
is  to  be  and  with  what  order  and  emphasis  it  should  be  made  to  take  its  place  in  the  complete  scheme. 


204  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

The  apprentice  system  as  carried  out  in  St.  Louis  has  an  advantage  in  that  the  free- 
dom, granted  to  the  principals  in  directing  the  work  of  the  cadets  has  led  to  the  devis- 
ing of  various  methods  of  conducting  their  training.  The  following  account  reported 
from  one  school  suggests  the  plan  that  is  generally  followed : 

At  the  beginning  of  the  term,  the  cadet  is  sent  to  the  first  grade,  and  studies  the 
organization  of  the  school  as  the  pupils  come  from  the  kindergarten.  A  week  or 
two  is  devoted  to  this  work,  and  at  the  end  of  this  period  the  teaching  is  begun. 
The  cadet  teaches  one-half  of  the  time.  The  program  is  so  constructed  as  to  af- 
ford an  opportunity  to  teach  every  subject  in  all  grades,  altho  the  progress  from 
grade  to  grade  is  not  necessarily  consecutive.  Every  Friday  morning  the  prin- 
cipal has  a  conference  with  the  cadet,  discussing  the  work  chiefly  from  the  point 
of  view  of  method  and  sequence.  Occasionally  the  cadet  takes  a  room  for  a  half- 
day,  carrying  all  of  the  work  during  the  session.  This  is  invariably  preceded  by 
a  conference  with  the  classroom  teacher  in  which  the  work  is  gone  over  care- 
fully. On  such  occasions,  the  principal  gives  the  cadet  thoroughgoing  supervision 
and  criticism.  During  the  last  two  weeks  of  the  semester,  the  cadet  has  charge 
of  rooms  for  the  entire  day.  Lesson  plans  are  prepared  for  all  lessons  until  the 
principal  is  satisfied  of  the  cadet's  ability  to  plan  work  well;  these  plans  are  sub- 
mitted sometimes  to  the  classroom  teacher  and  sometimes  to  the  principal. 

While  the  practice  teaching  observed  in  the  school  from  which  this  plan  is  quoted 
was  excellent,  the  teaching  in  other  schools  was  noticeably  defective,  and  in  some 
cases  there  was  apparently  no  attempt  to  correct  the  defects.  Particularly  significant 
was  the  deficiency  in  classroom  technique  of  some  of  the  beginners —  a  phase  of  teach- 
ing-skill which  expert  supervision  can  quickly  influence. 

SUGGESTED  IMPROVEMENTS 

As  a  result  of  observations  in  St.  Louis,  one  is  disposed  to  conclude  provisionally 
that  the  apprentice  system  as  the  sole  method  of  organizing  student-teaching  is  not 
satisfactory,  and  that  intensive  training  in  a  well-organized  and  expertly  supervised 
practice  school  will  ensure  with  greater  certainty  the  formation  of  good  teaching 
habits.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  supervision  of  principals  and  classroom  teachers 
could  be  supplemented  and  directed  by  expert  critics  from  the  college,  the  marked 
advantages  of  the  apprentice  system  might  be  preserved  and  many,  if  not  most,  of  its 
weaknesses  might  be  eliminated.  The  ideal  solution  of  the  problem  would  provide  pre- 
liminary participation  and  responsible  practice  in  a  school  attached  directly  to  the 
college,  followed  by  apprentice  work  in  selected  schools  under  the  joint  supervision  of 
the  regular  principals  and  of  the  supervisory  staff  at  the  college. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  progress  in  the  professional  preparation  of  teachers  it  is 
particularly  fortunate  that  the  apprentice  system  has  been  given  so  thorough  a  trial 
in  St.  Louis.  Certainly  if  this  system  could  succeed  anywhere,  it  would  succeed  in 
a  well -articulated  city  system  where  the  principals  represent  in  general  a  high  type  of 
professional  ability,  where  they  have  time  and  incentive  for  organizing  the  super- 
vision of  practice  teachers,  and  where  the  uniformity  of  curriculum  and  textbooks 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING  205 

makes  possible  a  very  specific  and  intensive  mastery  of  subject-matter  by  the  pro- 
spective teacher.  If  the  purely  apprenticeship  or  "cadet"  system  falls  short  under 
these  favorable  conditions,  it  could  hardly  be  expected  to  succeed  if  attempted  on  a 
large  scale  in  normal  schools  not  officially  connected  with  the  public  schools  to  which 
their  cadets  are  sent,  and  where  it  would  be  impossible  in  the  curriculum  to  forecast 
so  faithfully  the  varying  elementary  programs  of  many  towns.  Even  in  such  schools, 
however,  there  would  be  a  large  advantage  in  the  double  arrangement  just  suggested, 
— the  provision  of  preliminary  practice  facilities  in  direct  connection  with  the  normal 
school  itself  and  a  supplementary  period  of  apprenticeship  under  the  joint  supervi- 
sion of  the  normal  school  critic  staff  and  the  superintendents,  principals,  and  class- 
room teachers  of  cooperating  systems. 

Notwithstanding  these  strictures  upon  the  apprentice  system  as  worked  out  in  St. 
Louis,  it  is  the  conviction  of  the  observers  that  the  work  of  the  Harris  Teachers  Col- 
lege, including  its  admirable  system  of  extension  courses  for  graduates,  represents  a 
highly  efficient  type  of  teacher- training,  and  deserves  to  stand  in  many  ways  as  a 
model  for  normal  schools  and  teachers  colleges  throughout  the  country. 

(e)  SPIRIT  AND  MORALE  OF  THE  PRACTICE  SCHOOLS 

A  serious  handicap  to  the  efficiency  of  a  practice  school  is  the  difficulty  of  ensuring 
on  the  part  of  the  pupils  a  proper  attitude  toward  the  work  of  the  school.  Pupils 
are  not  always  inclined  to  take  the  student-teacher  seriously,  and  this  means  that  the 
work  which  the  student- teacher  represents  is  not  taken  seriously.  The  problem  is  not 
insoluble,  for  some  practice  schools  are  characterized  by  a  most  commendable  spirit  of 
industry  and  cooperation.  Among  the  state  normal  schools  of  Missouri,  for  example, 
Springfield  furnishes  a  striking  illustration  of  efficiency  in  training-school  organi- 
zation from  this  point  of  view.  But  in  some  of  the  other  institutions,  conditions  in 
the  practice  school  at  the  time  when  the  visits  were  made  were  little  short  of  des- 
perate. The  following  excerpts  from  the  visitors'  notes  will  indicate  types  of  difficulty 
in  administering  practice  teaching  that  are  by  no  means  limited  to  the  Missouri 
schools : 

GRADE  III.  A  section  of  eleven  pupils  in  nature  study.  The  violet  is  being  studied. 
The  pupils  are  inattentive  and  disorderly.  The  student-teacher  corrects  a  boy  for 
whispering,  and  he  responds  by  "making  a  face,"  meantime  continuing  with,  his 
whispering.  The  pupils  are  especially  disorderly  while  the  teacher  is  writing  upon 
the  blackboard.  They  whisper,  talk,  and  tickle  one  another.  There  is  no  interest 
in  the  work  of  the  class,  A  supervisor  enters,  and  the  class  at  once  becomes  at- 
tentive and  orderly. 

GRADE  VI.  A  class  in  arithmetic.  Blackboard  work  is  in  progress  when  the  ob- 
server enters.  At  the  close  of  the  period  another  student-teacher  takes  charge 
of  one-half  of  the  class.  There  is  some  confusion  in  making  the  change.  The 
new  teacher  is  besieged  by  six  or  seven  pupils,  each  clamoring  to  have  his  ques- 
tion answered  first,  and  all  talking  in  high  voices. 


206  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

Teacher:  "  Every  one  take  their  seats." 

A  lesson  in  history  is  begun;  the  assignment  for  the  next  day9  s  work  is  given 

Teacher:  "For  to-morrow,  take  the  Dutch  revolt  against  Spain." 
Pupil  (roughly) :  "Take  what? " 
Teacher:  "The  next  chapter." 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  noise  and  confusion,  and  little  attention  to  the  work 
in  hand.  The  pupils  open  and  close  the  desk-tops  needlessly,  noisily,  and  re- 
peatedly; they  play  listlessly  but  noisily  with  pencils,  and  ink-well  covers.  When 
called  upon  they  stand  to  recite,  but  rise  lazily  and  slouch  over  their  desks 
when  half  erect.  One  boy  comes  sauntering  into  the  room,  hands  in  pockets,  ten 
minutes  after  the  exercise  begins.  The  pupils  interrupt  the  recitation  with  irre- 
sponsible and  sometimes  "funny"  questions.  The  student-teacher  calls  for  better 
order,  and  for  a  time  there  is  a  slight  improvement.  The  section  includes  five 
boys  and  sixteen  girls ;  there  are  also  in  the  room  two  normal  school  students 
who  have  apparently  been  assigned  to  "observe"  the  work 
GRADE  VIII.  Physiology.  The  section  includes  six  girls  and  eight  boys.  The  class 
shows  little  spirit  for  the  work.  The  pupils  tend  to  recite  without  thinking,  and 
give  other  evidences  of  irresponsibility.  There  is  much  shuffling  of  feet  and  mum- 
bling in  undertones.  One  girl  tries  to  take  a  pencil  from  a  neighbor's  hands;  the 
two  then  smirk  and  giggle.  Some  of  the  pupils  attempt  to  create  merriment  by 
making  either  crudely  humorous  or  semi-impudent  statements.  There  is  a  good 
deal  of  "horse-play"  among  the  boys — such  as  slapping  on  the  back,  followed 
by  exaggerated  expressions  of  pain  on  the  part  of  the  one  struck.  The  lesson  deals 
with  the  problem  of  good  health,  and  seems  well  adapted  to  the  needs  and  attain- 
ment of  the  pupils — but  they  will  have  none  of  it.  The  bell  rings  and  the  teacher 
hastily  gives  the  assignment:  "For  to-morrow,  self-control  and  cigarettes." 
GKADE  I.  A  section  is  having  a  word  drill  (with  cards)  under  the  direction  of 
a  practice  teacher.  The  pupils  are  inattentive  and  disorderly.  The  work  is  appar- 
rently  too  easy. 

GRAPE  V.  A  practice  teacher  has  charge  of  a  section  of  thirteen  boys  in  hand- 
work. The  making  of  a  blotter  holder  is  the  project.  The  teacher  is  giving  direc- 
tions to  individual  pupils;  the  remaining  pupils  are  generally  idle  but  not  at 
first  disorderly.  It  seems  that  the  scissors  are  not  ready  and  a  pupil  is  sent  for 
them.  The  order  relaxes  as  the  work  proceeds.  The  teacher  requests  the  pupils 
not  to  "speak  out,"  but  the  request  is  unheeded,  and  the  teacher  answers  the 
questions  just  as  willingly  when  the  pupils  do  "  speak  out." 
GBADE  IX.  Algebra  under  a  practice  teacher  (a  young  man).  The  attention  is 
good  at  the  outset,  but  the  pupils  rapidly  become  listless  and  inattentive  as  the 
work  proceeds.  They  mumble  in  speaking  and  lean  inertly  against  the  desks 
when  standing  for  recitation. 

GBADE  IV.  Thirteen  boys  and  one  girl  form  a  language  section  in  charge  of  a 
practice  teacher.  The  pupils  are  very  disorderly,  and  not  infrequently  impudent. 
As  the  observer  enters,  one  pupil  is  scrambling  on  the  floor,  having  apparently 
been  pushed  from  his  seat  by  a  neighbor, — altho  the  impulse  of  the  push  was 
quite  likely  supplemented  by  the  boy  himself.  There  is  much  confused  talking. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING  207 

One  pupil  tells  another  to  "shut  up."  The  teacher  pleads,  —  "Boys,  you  must  be 
still;"  but  no  results  follow  from  this  admonition. 

GRADE  V.  A  language  lesson.  Discussion  of  the  work  of  the  undertaker.  The 
class  is  disorderly,  the  pupils  interrupting  the  teacher  and  one  another  on  the 
slightest  pretext.  The  teacher's  admonitions  are  not  effective. 

GRADE  V.  A  geography  lesson  on  Montgomery  and  Birmingham,  Alabama.  Pupils 
chime  in  freely  3  speaking  very  loudly.  Turmoil  finally  results.  The  teacher  checks 
the  irresponsible  "guessing"  of  the  pupils,  but  the  class  still  remains  somewhat 
turbulent. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  infer  that  all  of  the  practice  teaching  involves  these  unfor- 
tunate conditions.  One  may  always  find  at  least  a  few  practice  teachers  who  thru 
native  charm  or  good  luck  or  both  have  managed  to  create  many  of  the  conditions 
that  make  for  effective  school  work.  But  too  frequently  the  practice  school  is  an  un- 
ruly school  in  so  far  as  the  practice  classes  themselves  are  concerned.  In  Springfield, 
on  the  contrary,  and  undoubtedly  in  certain  other  normal  schools  scattered  through- 
out the  country,  the  practice  school  is  so  organized  and  administered  that  practically 
all  student- teachers  are  able  from  the  outset  to  work  with  the  full  confidence  that 
the  attitude  of  the  pupils  will  be  positive  rather  than  negative.  A  subtle  spirit  of 
cooperation  and  good  will  has  been  made  to  characterize  the  pupil-body  as  a  whole. 
This  is  a  contrast  that  demands  further  examination. 

REASONS  FOR  Low  MORALE 

Back  of  the  unfortunate  condition  described  there  usually  lurks  a  definite  and 
plausible  theory  of  preparing  teachers.  Modern  educational  doctrines,  it  is  urged,  de- 
mand that  the  teacher  "hold"  his  pupils  thru  interest  and  activity  rather  than  thru 
force  or  the  show  of  authority.  To  prepare  teachers  to  maintain  order  thru  interest 
and  personal  leadership,  the  conditions  of  the  practice  class,  it  is  argued,  must  involve 
a  similar  demand.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  consistent  effort  to  carry  out  this  theory  will 
lead  inevitably  to  the  kind  of  school  and  the  kind  of  work  pictured  in  the  above  note- 
book extracts.  The  more  unfortunate  tendencies  of  the  policy  may  be  summarized  as 
follows : 

1.  The  pupils  are  quick  to  take  advantage  of  the  fact  that  the  student-teacher  has 
no  effective  authority.  This  leads  not  only  to  slack  work  on  their  part,  but  also  to 
cumulative  experiments  in  disorder  to  determine  how  far  lapses  from  the  stated  rules 
may  be  carried. 

2.  The  teacher,  recognizing  the  conditions  but  lacking  personal  authority  to  check 
them,  is  unwilling  to  appeal  for  aid  to  the  superintendent  or  supervisor  because  of 
the  belief  that  to  do  this  will  be  a  confession  of  inability  to  master  the  situation. 
His  tendency,  then,  is  to  hide  or  overlook  the  inattention  and  mischief  of  the  pupils, 
trusting  that  the  supervisors  will  not  find  out  how  unfortunate  lie  conditions  really 
are? — a  policy  in  which  lie  is  often  abetted  by  the  pupils  themselves,  who  assume 


208  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

a  righteous  and  industrious  attitude  while  the  supervisor  is  present,  only  to  drop  it 
when  his  back  is  turned. 

3.  Under  these  circumstances  the  student-teacher  is  almost  certain  to  become  self- 
conscious  and  diffident  —  and  at  this  very  critical  initial  point  the  loss  of  self-confi- 
dence is  a  most  serious  matter.  Altho  expected  to  hold  the  attention  of  his  pupils  thru 
masterly  teaching,  he  finds  himself  so  overwhelmed  by  disciplinary  troubles  which  the 
ineffective  means  at  his  disposal  cannot  dissolve  that  the  first  condition  of  masterly 
teaching  —  a  genuine  rapport  between  teacher  and  pupil — is  never  firmly  established. 

4.  The  policy  in  question  encourages  loose  and  inefficient  supervision.  Pupils  may 
misbehave,  but  their  misbehavior  is  part  of  the  "situation"  that  the  student- teacher 
"must  learn  to  master:"  it  need  not  trouble  the  supervisor  as  one  of  his  individual 
responsibilities.  The  student-teacher,  lacking  real  authority,  cannot  indulge  in  pun- 
ishments that  might  be  complained  of  by  pupils  and  parents.  The  school  may  conse- 
quently become  thoroughly  degenerate,  while  the  superintendent  or  principal  finds 
a  safe  refuge  in  his  theory  that  the  student- teachers  must  be  thrown  upon  their  own 
resources,  and  that  to  give  them  effective  aid  in  the  treatment  of  disciplinary  problems 
will  be  to  rob  them  of  the  most  important  educative  experiences  that  their  training 
can  provide.  This  does  not  mean  that  all  disorderly  practice  schools  are  in  charge  of 
lazy  and  inefficient  supervisors,  but  simply  that  the  theory  of  the  policy  stated  above 
is  too  convenient  not  to  be  embraced  and  proclaimed  by  a  person  who  is  willing  and 
anxious  to  shift  disagreeable  responsibilities  and  avoid  irritating  issues. 

LAISSEZ-FAIRE  POLICY  A  MISTAKE 

The  policy  itself,  we  think,  is  a  mistaken  one.  It  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  the 
best  results  in  the  training  of  teachers  can  be  obtained  when  the  beginner  is  con- 
fronted with  a  situation,  all  of  the  problems  of  which  must  be  solved  at  once.  Far 
better  is  it  to  let  him  concentrate  upon  one  problem, — the  problem  of  instruction, 
—ensuring  thru  other  means  an  effective  attitude  upon  the  part  of  the  pupils.  It 
should  not  be  inferred  that  the  student-teacher  is  simply  to  instruct  the  class,  while 
a  critic  teacher  or  supervisor  stands  by  to  preserve  order;  the  object  is  rather  the 
creation  among  the  pupils  of  a  good  "school  spirit  ^  that  will  be  favorable  toward  the 
work  of  the  student- teacher.  As  has  been  suggested,  this  is  not  an  impossible  con- 
dition to  fulfil.  A  competent  principal  can  develop  such  a  spirit  within  two  or  three 
years'  time — even  with  a  group  of  pupils  who  have  been  pretty  thoroughly  spoiled 
under  a  loose  and  ineffective  regime.  The  welfare  of  the  pupils  of  a  practice  school 
should  be  the  primary  consideration  in  determining  the  policy  to  be  adopted  in  ad- 
ministering practice  teaching, — and  certainly  a  policy  that  permits  children  to  do 
poor  work  term  after  term  is  most  detrimental  to  their  welfare.  Furthermore,  it  can 
hardly  be  expected  that  a  school  conducted  on  the  laissez-faire  principle  will  appeal 
strongly  to  the  community  when  the  question  arises  of  giving  the  normal  school  con- 
trol of  the  local  school  system.  Where  this  policy  prevails  now  the  citizens  are  fully 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING  209 

aware  that  their  own  schools  are  preferable,  and  no  training  school  should  demand 
control  unless  it  is  fully  conscious  of  its  ability  to  conduct  practically  a  better  school 
or  school  system  than  would  otherwise  exist. 

The  most  unfortunate  results  of  a  procedure  which  prevents  the  development  of 
a  wholesome  morale  in  a  training  school  are  the  low  standards  of  order  and  attainment 
that  the  young  teacher  is  likely  to  have  firmly  fixed  by  the  experiences  of  practice 
teaching.  If  the  training  school  in  effect  accepts  wilful  disorder  and  scamped  work  upon 
the  part  of  pupils  as  matters  of  course,  the  student-teacher  is  more  than  likely  to  enter 
the  service  with  a  similar  tendency.  It  becomes  natural  for  him,  in  judging  his  own 
work  and  its  results,  to  use  a  standard  that  falls  far  short  both  of  the  actual  abilities 
of  the  pupils  and  of  the  reasonable  demands  of  the  community.  Not  a  few  teachers  who 
might  easily  stimulate  their  pupils  to  larger  achievement  fail  to  do  so  because  they 
have  no  adequate  conception  of  the  possibilities ;  their  pupils  do  as  well  as  the  pupils 
in  the  training  schools  that  the  teacher  has  so  recently  left,  or  perhaps  somewhat  bet- 
ter.1 The  spirit  and  morale  of  their  schools,  while  leaving  much  to  be  desired,  is  prob- 
ably no  worse  than  the  spirit  and  morale  of  the  practice  classes.  Surely  (such  a  teacher 
may  argue)  if  the  great  state  school  can  do  no  better,  I  should  not  be  expected  to 
surpass  its  standard. 

Where  normal  school  graduates  go  into  well-supervised  schools,  the  pressure  of 
criticism  is  likely  to  bring  about  a  speedy  reconstruction  of  ideas, — a  process  which 
often  does  much  to  destroy  the  teacher's  confidence  in  his  Alma  Mater,  and  a  process 
the  necessity  for  which  has  caused  some  normal  schools  to  fall  very  low  in  the  estima- 
tion of  superintendents  and  principals  who  have  had  to  make  over  their  products.  The 
graduate  who  teaches  in  a  school  that  is  poorly  supervised,  or  entirely  unsupervised, 
will  miss  even  this  corrective,  and  will  almost  inevitably  perpetuate  the  low  standards 
that  the  practice  classes  have  set. 

TRAINING  SCHOOL  TESTS  SHOW  Low  STANDARDS 

The  level  to  which  practice  classes  may  fall  is  clearly  indicated  in  the  results  of 
the  tests  that  were  conducted  in  the  Missouri  training  schools  in  the  spring  and  fall 
of  1916.2  In  practically  all  of  the  tests  for  which  well-established  norms  are  avail- 
able,3 the  results  in  most  of  the  training  schools  are  poor.  There  are  notable  excep- 
tions ;  Cape  Girardeau  and  Springfield  generally  do  better  than  the  remaining  schools ; 
single  grades  in  each  of  the  schools  make  very  creditable  records  in  certain  of  the  tests; 
and  the  standing  of  all  of  the  schools  in  the  reading  tests  is  good.  The  superiority 

*A  young  teacher  whose  practice  work  at  the  state  normal  school  had  been  very  discouraging  to  her  declared 
that  in  her  first  school  after  leaving  the  normal  school  there  were  no  pupils  as  dull  or  intractable  as  those  with 
whom  she  had  been  given  practice  worlc.  It  was  found  that  this  latter  group,  a  small  one  recruited  from  the  mis- 
fits of  the  city  schools,  actually  contained  a  large  proportion  of  sub-normal  children.  The  effect  of  this  condition 
upon  an  inexperienced  teacher,  especially  if  combined  with  the  policy  of  "soft"  discipline,  may  be  imagined. 
3  See  pages  443  ff. 

3  It  is  true  that  these  standards  represent  in  the  main  the  achievements  of  pupils  in  city  school  systems  j  but  should 
not  the  state  normal  school  aim  to  secure  in  its  training  schools  at  least  the  attainment  of  the  average  city  school  ? 


210  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

in  reading  cannot,  however,  be  considered  as  counterbalancing  the  inferiority  in  the 
remaining  subjects.  In  practically  all  of  the  training  schools,  the  primary  departments 
are  decidedly  better  than  the  intermediate  and  upper  grade  departments.  The  funda- 
mental work  in  reading  in  consequence  is  quite  generally  well  done.  The  practice 
teacher  in  the  primary  grades  also  has  an  advantage  over  the  practice  teacher  in  the 
upper  grades,  for  the  younger  children  do  not  draw  the  distinction  between  practice 
teachers  and  "regular15  teachers  that  their  more  sophisticated  brothers  and  sisters  in 
the  upper  grades  are  prone  to  make.  Morale  is  a  less  serious  problem,  and  the  dele- 
terious influence  of  poor  morale  upon  the  attainments  of  the  pupils  will  be  less 
noticeable. 

There  was  little  question  in  the  minds  of  those  engaged  in  the  present  study  that 
the  low  morale  of  the  practice  classes  was  in  large  part  responsible  for  the  poor  re- 
sults. There  is,  indeed,  a  close  correlation  between  the  ranking  of  the  training  schools 
as  determined  by  the  combined  judgment  of  the  three  observers  who  in  1915  examined 
them  and  the  ranking  as  determined  by  the  tests  applied  in  1916 ;  in  the  case  of  only 
one  of  the  schools  (Cape  Girardeau)  was  there  a  noticeable  discrepancy  between  these 
two  rankings.  An  observer  will  almost  inevitably  judge  a  school  primarily  upon  the 
basis  of  its  spirit  as  revealed  in  the  evidences  of  industry,  whole-souled  effort,  and 
thoroughgoing  cooperation  among  pupils  and  between  pupils  and  teachers;  conse- 
quently a  direct  correlation  between  observers'  ratings  and  the  rank-order  determined 
by  objective  tests  is  likely  to  mean  a  direct  correlation  between  morale  on  the  one 
hand  and  good  results  in  school  work  on  the  other  hand. 

It  is,  of  course,  not  impossible  to  secure  good  objective  results  when  the  spirit  of 
the  school  leaves  much  to  be  desired.  In  the  opinion  of  the  observers,  for  example, 
the  training  school  at  Cape  Girardeau  was  inferior  to  that  at  Springfield  in  this 
respect,  and  yet  the  results  of  the  tests  were  decidedly  better  in  the  former  school. 
The  explanation  is  to  be  found,  we  believe,  (1)  in  the  organization  of  the  training  de- 
partment at  Cape  Girardeau,  which  provided  a  system  of  supervision  especially  watch- 
ful of  objective  results,  and  (2)  in  the  emphasis  that  has  been  given  to  the  standard 
tests  both  in  the  training  school  and  in  the  classes  in  theory. 

The  situation  thus  revealed  raises  an  important  question  that  has  not  as  yet  been 
satisfactorily  answered  in  the  discussions  of  educational  standards;  namely,  How  far 
may  accomplishment  as  measured  by  the  standard  tests  be  taken  as  a  true  index  of 
a  school's  efficiency?  It  is  clear  that  measured  performance  cannot  constitute  the  only 
criterion  of  worth;  at  least  until  the  scales  and  tests  cover  a  much  larger  proportion 
of  the  desirable  results  of  education  than  do  those  now  available.  Objective  mea- 
sures, then,  must  be  supplemented  by  the  judgment  of  observers  whose  training  and 
experience  have  made  them  sensitive  to  conditions  that  objective  tests  cannot  yet  de- 
tect. When  both  measures  point  in  the  same  direction,  an  element  of  strength  attaches 
to  the  verdict  that  could  not  be  secured  thru  the  operation  of  either  factor  alone. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING 

(f)  COURSES  IN  OBSEEVATION  AS  PREREQUISITE  TO  PRACTICE  TEACHING 

Exercises  in  a observation"  are  commonly  listed  among  the  courses  prescribed  for 
the  training  of  teachers.  The  requirements  vary,  however,  both  in  nature  and  in  amount 
in  different  schools.  Among  the  Missouri  institutions,  Kirksville,  Cape  Girardeau,  and 
Maryville  make  no  stated  requirements  in  observation;  while  much  emphasis  is  given 
to  this  work  in  the  Harris  Teachers  College  and  in  the  Springfield  State  Normal 
School.  Warrensburg  stands  about  midway  between  the  two  extremes,  requiring  work 
in  observation  but  not  giving  it  unusual  attention. 

So  many  criticisms  have  been  made  of  the  impractical  and  perfunctory  exercises 
often  attempted  under  the  name  of  observation  that  successful  experience  with  this 
work  deserves  close  study.  If  a  preliminary,  concrete  study  of  the  actual  procedure  or 
technique  of  an  art  is  needed  anywhere,  it  is  needed  in  the  preparation  of  teachers;  to 
send  a  normal  school  student  to  responsible  practice  teaching  before  he  has  had  an 
opportunity  to  observe  and  study  good  teaching  is  unjust  to  the  student,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  pupils;  it  is  like  forcing  the  surgeon's  instruments  into  the  hands  of 
the  medical  student  who  has  never  witnessed  an  operation.  It  will  be  well,  then,  to 
describe  somewhat  fully  the  way  in  which  observation  is  organized,  especially  in  the 
schools  where  particular  emphasis  is  placed  upon  it. 

LESSONS  FOE  DEMONSTRATION  AT  ST.  Louis 

Adjacent  to  themain  building  of  the  Harris  Teachers  College  is  the  Wyman  School, 
a  typical  elementary  school  of  the  St.  Louis  system,  comprising  a  kindergarten  and 
Grades  I-VIII  inclusive.  The  building  is  a  large,  modern  structure,  well  suited  to  the 
needs  of  a  school  for  observation  or  demonstration,  and  is  connected  by  a  covered  way 
with  the  main  college  building.  This  school  is  used  exclusively  for  purposes  of  demon- 
stration. There  is  no  independent  course  in  observation,  but  every  course  offered  by 
the  college  may  be  illustrated  by  lessons  presented  in  the  Wyman  School;  and  partly 
perhaps  because  the  college  has  no  direct  control  of  practice  teaching,  a  very  large  use 
is  made  of  these  exceptional  facilities  for  observation.  The  school  enrolls  over  one 
thousand  pupils,  and  the  work  is  organized  on  St.  Louis's  well-known  quarterly  plan, 
which  means  in  a  large  school  that  classes  not  more  than  ten  weeks  apart  in  progress 
will  be  available  for  observation  at  all  times.  This  makes  it  possible  to  illustrate  al- 
most any  point  that  may  come  up.  The  general  practice  is  for  the  instructor  in  the 
college  to  arrange  with  the  principal  of  the  Wyman  School  and  with  one  of  the  class- 
room teachers  to  have  a  lesson  of  the  desired  type  given  at  a  certain  time.  During 
the  regular  period  for  the  meeting  of  -the  college  class,  the  students  go  over  and  spend 
from  twenty  to  thirty  minutes  in  observing  the  lesson.  They  then  return  to  the  col- 
lege classroom,  where  the  results  are  discussed. 

The  conspicuous  features  of  the  work  in  observation  at  the  Harris  Teachers  Col- 
lege are  (1)  its  close  articulation  with  the  subject-matter  and  methods  courses,  and 
(2)  its  very  careful  organization.  One  visiting  these  classes  gains  the  impression  that 


212  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

the  work  is  considered  by  all  concerned  to  be  distinctly  important.  There  is  nothing 
perfunctory  or  formal  about  it.  The  Wyman  School  is  in  a  very  real  sense  the  edu- 
cational laboratory  of  the  college. 

COURSES  IN  OBSERVATION  AT  THE  SPRINGFIELD  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

At  Springfield  a  separate  course  in  observation  covering  a  full  term,  five  hours  each 
week,  is  a  prerequisite  to  practice  teaching.  It  follows  the  introductory  course  in 
psychology  and  a  twelve  weeks  course  in  school  management.  The  classes  in  observa- 
tion are  differentiated  with  reference  to  the  grade  of  teaching  for  which  the  student  is 
preparing.1  The  course  carries  the  same  credit  as  do  other  courses  meeting  five  times 
each  week.  In  addition  to  the  actual  exercises  in  observation  and  discussion,  each  stu- 
dent is  expected  to  do  reference  reading  and  to  make  out  lesson  plans;  occasionally, 
too,  a  student  is  called  upon  to  teach  a  class  under  the  direction  of  the  supervisor  in 
charge  of  the  class;  all  work  in  observation  is  under  the  direction  of  members  of  the 
training-school  staff. 

Observation  courses  at  Springfield  are  conceived  as  a  connecting  link  between  the- 
ory and  practice,  and  hold  a  detached  and  independent  place  instead  of  being  woven 
into  the  fabric  of  the  courses  in  subject-matter  and  educational  theory.  This  is  prob- 
ably the  only  type  of  work  in  observation  that  can  be  profitably  developed  in  a  nor- 
mal school  with  limited  laboratory  facilities.  In  a  school  like  Springfield  most  of  the 
available  pupils  must  be  reserved  as  material  for  practice  teaching,  and  a  large  school 
for  demonstration  in  which  any  instructor  may  arrange  at  any  time  for  class  exercises 
that  will  illustrate  his  work  is  out  of  the  question  under  the  present  organization* 
Exercises  in  observation  are  in  consequence  limited  to  specific  courses  in  charge  of 
members  of  the  training-school  staff  who  are  in  a  position  to  make  the  best  use  of 
the  available  classes.  In  general,  whatever  work  the  selected  class  is  doing  when  the 
observers  make  their  visit  must  serve  as  the  basis  of  study  and  discussion.  That  even 
under  these  limitations  the  work  may  be  made  to  yield  good  returns,  the  experience 
at  Springfield  seems  abundantly  to  testify.  Compared  with  the  work  at  the  Harris 
Teachers  College,  it  has  serious  shortcomings,  but  it  is  vastly  better  than  no  contact 
whatsoever  with  the  training  school,  and  constitutes  a  distinct  advance  over  the 
perfunctory  exercises  in  observation  that  are  not  infrequently  found  in  state  normal 
and  city  training  schools. 

DEMONSTRATION  TEACHING  AT  WARRENSBITRG 

Theoretically,  the  arrangement  for  work  in  observation  at  Warrensburg  is  the  same 
as  at  Springfield, —  a  twelve  weeks  course  preceding  practice  teaching  and  providing 
a  bridge  from  the  courses  in  theory.  Practically,  however,  the  work  did  not  seem  to 

1  Those  looking  forward  to  primary  work  observe  for  four  weeks  in  Grades  I  and  II,  for  four  weeks  in  Grades  HI 
and  IV,  and  for  four  weeks  in  Grades  V  and  VI;  those  expecting  to  do  upper  grade  work  follow  the  same  general 
plan  except  that  they  begin  with  Grade  III  and  end  with  Grade  VIII ;  those  preparing  for  rural  school  teaching 
observe  in  each  of  the  eight  grades. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING  £13 

be  so  effectively  organized  and  administered  as  at  Springfield.  This  was  doubtless 
due  in  part  to  the  unfortunate  conditions  as  to  housing  that  confronted  the  War- 
rensburg  training  school  at  the  time  the  visits  were  made.  As  at  Springfield,  the 
work  is  in  charge  of  the  training-school  staff  and  consists  primarily  of  lessons  for  de- 
monstration given  by  the  supervisors  and  the  superintendent,  and  followed  by  class 
discussions. 

(g)  SUPERVISION  OF  PEACTICE  TEACHING 

From  the  standpoint  both  of  the  pupils'  progress  in  the  practice  school  and  of  the 
student- teacher's  growth  in  skill,  the  amount  and  quality  of  supervision  are  matters 
of  prime  consideration.  Along  with  adequate  schools  for  demonstration  and  practice, 
an  institution  for  the  training  of  teachers  needs  a  staff  of  well-trained  supervisors 
and  critics  and  a  carefully  organized  system  of  directing  the  work  of  its  students  in 
training. 

(i)  THE  SUPEBVISOKY  STAFF 

RATIO  OF  SUPERVISORS  TO  STUDENT-TEACHEKS 

Several  attempts  have  been  made  to  establish  a  minimal  standard  for  the  ratio  of 
supervisors  to  the  number  of  students  in  practice-teaching  courses.1 

STATUS  AND  EQUIPMENT  OF  SUPERVISORS  AND  CRITIC  TEACHERS 

The  importance  of  their  work  demands  that  supervisors  and  critieteachers  rank  with 
other  normal  school  teachers  both  as  to  salary  and  professional  status.  This  means  that 
the  qualifications  demanded  of  appointees  to  supervisory  and  critic  positions  should 
be  comparable  in  every  way  to  the  qualifications  demanded  of  teachers  of  academic 
and  professional  subjects.  They  might  well,  indeed,  be  superior.  It  is  in  the  relatively 
low  status  accorded  to  the  supervisors  and  critics  in  comparison  with  the  teachers  of 
academic  subjects  that  the  normal  schools  as  a  group  have  made  one  of  their  most 
serious  mistakes.  In  the  study  of  practice  teaching  already  referred  to,2  it  was  found 
that  the  median  average  salary  of  critic  teachers  in  forty-six  state  normal  schools  was 
$1036,  while  the  median  average  salary  of  academic  teachers  in  thirty-six  schools  was 

1  Whether  a  normal  school  has  an  adequate  supervisory  staff  can  usually  be  determined,  however,  only  by  an  ex- 
amination of  the  system  of  practice  teaching  and  the  system  of  supervision  in  each  particular  case.  The  extent  to 
which  academic  instructors  participate  in  the  work  of  supervision  as  well  as  the  ""teaching:  load  "  of  all  supervisors 
must  be  taken  into  account  With  this  understanding  the  equivalent  of  one  fall-time  supervisor  to  every  eight  stu- 
dent-teachers may  well  be  accepted  as  a  desirable  standard.  Judd  and  Parker,  for  example,  suggest  1 : 8  as  the  low- 
est possible  admissible  ratio,  and  Kelly,  writing  in  19i5,  reports  for  sixty-eight  state  normal  schools  a  median  ratio  of 
1 : 14.  Santee,  in  his  study  of  practice  teaching  in  seventy  state  normal  schools,  asked  each  school  to  state  the  small- 
est number  of  student-teachers  in  charge  of  a  single  supervisor  and  the  largest  number  of  student-teachers  in  charge 
of  a  single  supervisor ;  the  median  in  the  former  instance  was  six,  with  a  range  from  one  to  forty ;  the  median  in  the 
latter  instance  was  fourteen,  with  a  range  from  two  to  fifty.  (C.  H.  Judd  and  S.  C.  Parker:  Problems  involved  in 
Standardizing  Normal  Schools.  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  12, 1916t  page  89.  F.  J.  Kelly :  What 
Training  School  Facilities  are  provided  in  State  Normal  Schools,  in  Educational  Administration  and  Supervision, 
vol.  i,  pp.  591  ff.  A.  M.  Santee:  The  Organization  and  Administration  of  Practice  Teaching  in  StateNormal  Softools, 
in  School  and  Home  Education,  September,  1917,  pages  8  ff.) 

2  A.  M.  Santee:  op.  dt. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

$1488.  In  the  Missouri  schools  the  salary  differences  are  not  so  noticeable,1  but  the 
differences  in  training  are  striking;  while  ninety-three  per  cent  of  the  teachers  of 
academic  subjects  have  had  the  equivalent  of  four  years'  collegiate  education,  only 
twenty-seven  per  cent  of  the  supervisors  have  so  extensive  a  background  for  their 

work. 

As  a  matter  of  general  policy  in  normal  school  administration,  the  larger  the  recog- 
nition and  the  more  attractive  the  rewards  given  to  the  expert  whose  class  work  is  to 
be  the  model  for  the  normal  school  student  to  emulate,  the  more  clearly  will  the  school 
emphasize  its  function  as  an  institution  for  preparing  teachers.  The  teacher  who,  in 
addition  to  possessing  a  thorough  and  appropriate  education,  can  teach  and  manage 
a  class  expertly  well,  and  can  successfully  show  others  how  to  do  it,  should  be  placed 
well  above  the  teacher  of  academic  and  professional  classes  who  lacks  this  power. 
Such  ability  is  the  very  heart  and  soul  of  professional  training,  and  to  refuse  to  recog- 
nize it  is  to  Ignore  the  very  object  for  which  the  normal  school  exists. 

(u)  METHODS  OF  SUPERVISION 

Before  proceeding  to  a  discussion  of  the  practices  in  Missouri,  it  seems  desirable 
to  indicate  briefly  the  forms  of  supervision  that  appear  to  have  justified  themselves 
in  successful  experience.  In  the  better  normal  schools,  efforts  to  ensure  the  growth  of 
the  student-teacher  take  a  variety  of  forms.  Lesson  plans  are  required,  and  these  must 
be  approved  by  the  supervisor  before  the  lessons  are  taught.  The  practice  classes  are 
visited,  and  the  work  of  the  student-teacher  is  inspected  and  criticised.  Sometimes 
the  visiting  supervisor  leaves  with  the  teacher  a  written  criticism;  at  other  times  the 
two  meet  for  a  personal  conference;  and  occasionally  a  supervisor  will  take  the  class 
and  show  the  teacher  just  how  a  topic  is  to  be  treated  or  a  difficulty  overcome.  Super- 
visors not  only  meet  students  individually  for  conferences  regarding  work  done  or  in 
prospect,  but  they  also  meet  groups  of  student-teachers  who  are  engaged  in  similar 
work,  while  all  of  the  student-teachers  may  be  brought  together  at  periodic  intervals 
for  a  general  conference  on  the  work  of  the  school  as  a  whole.  Nor  are  the  conferences 
limited  to  those  in  which  the  student-teachers  participate.  In  good  normal  schools 
all  of  the  supervisors  meet  at  least  fortnightly  and  usually  once  each  week  to  compare 
notes,  to  discuss  this  or  that  teacher's  points  of  weakness  and  strength,  and  to  agree 
upon  methods  of  solving  the  double  problem  of  developing  the  student-teacher  and 
conserving  the  welfare  of  the  practice  classes.  In  some  normal  schools,  too,  much  is 
made  of  the  "critique3*  or  exhibition  lesson  given  by  a  student-teacher  in  the  pres- 
ence of  his  supervisors  and  of  his  fellow  students,  and  criticised  later  by  the  group. 

The  organization  of  a  machinery  of  supervision  thru  the  routine  of  which  adequate 
attention  will  be  given  to  the  work  of  each  student  obviously  involves  the  danger 

1  Thirty-one  women  supervisors  receive  an  average  salary  of  $1386,  while  forty-eight  women  teachers  of  academic 
subjects  receive  an  average  salary  of  $1353 ;  taking  men  and  women  together,  the  supervisor's  average  salary  is  $1368, 
while  the  average  salary  of  all  academic  teachers  is  $1569. 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING  215 

lest  routine  become  an  end  in  itself.  It  is  essential  that  the  system  be  sufficiently 
elastic  to  prevent  its  hardening  into  a  mere  mechanism,  and  so  thoroughly  charged 
with  meaning  that  neither  supervisor  nor  student-teacher  will  ever  lose  sight  of  the 
purpose  of  any  detail.  It  is  also  essential  that  its  routine  be  so  well  established  as  to 
leave  no  chances  open  for  the  repetition  of  serious  blunders,  or  for  the  continuance 
of  conditions  that  are  inimical  to  the  welfare  of  the  pupils.  Some  of  the  more  im- 
portant elements  in  this  organization  will  be  briefly  noted. 

Lesson  Plans.  The  welfare  of  both  teacher  and  pupils  demands  a  careful  planning 
of  each  lesson,  and  the  criticism  of  each  plan  by  a  supervisor  before  the  lesson  is  pre- 
sented. In  no  other  way  can  the  supervisor  be  assured  that  the  subject-matter  of  the 
lesson  has  been  properly  organized,  and  that  the  materials  which  the  student- teacher 
proposes  to  present  contain  no  errors.  That  this  requirement  has  its  dangers  no  one 
will  deny;  as  one  director  of  training  explained:  "We  are  afraid  that  the  lesson 
plan  will  get  in  the  teacher's  way  when  he  goes  before  his  class."  Certainly  there  is 
a  risk  that  two  important  elements  in  successful  teaching  —  spontaneity  and  enthu- 
siasm —  may  be  impaired  by  the  process.  On  the  other  hand,  while  the  danger  must 
be  recognized,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  necessity  for  incurring  it.  The  testimony 
of  good  teachers  everywhere  is  to  the  effect  that  a  painstaking  preliminary  working 
over  of  materials  will  not  only  not  destroy  one's  spontaneity  in  teaching,  but  rather, 
because  of  the  sense  of  mastery  that  results,  will  free  one  to  do  superior  work.  Confi- 
dence that  is  thus  made  intelligent  breeds  a  sort  of  driving  power  beside  which  the 
enthusiasm  springing  from  one's  first  uncritical  interest  is  exceedingly  superficial.  The 
skilful  supervisor,  in  watching  the  work  of  the  young  teacher,  can  quickly  detect 
whether  the  life  has  gone  out  of  it  because  of  too  close  attention  to  the  prepared 
outline,  and  this  is  the  time  for  suggestions  as  to  the  proper  place  of  the  lesson  plan. 

Whether  lesson  plans  should  be  required  daily  or  weekly  or  by  terms  or  by  large 
topics  or  in  any  combination  of  these  units  is  not  so  important  a  matter  provided 
that  some  routine  of  effective  preparation  is  recognized  and  practised.1  The  greatest 
care  upon  the  part  of  the  supervisor,  however,  is  essential  to  prevent  the  daily  plan- 
ning from  becoming  merely  perfunctory.  Probably  the  best  practice  is  to  provide  a 
stated  period  each  day  when  supervisor  and  teacher  may  meet  for  a  conference  on  the 
lesson  to  be  taught,  and  when  the  teacher  may  go  over  with  the  supervisor  each  step 
in  the  proposed  exercise.  While  these  may  take  more  time  than  is  involved  in  merely 
reading  "the  lesson  plans  and  returning  them  with  corrections  and  suggestions,  the  ex- 
penditure is  a  good  investment,  for  the  actual  viva  voce  consideration  of  the  problems 
will  do  more  than  anything  else  to  prevent  them  from  losing  their  interest.  The  time 
taken  by  the  conferences  may  be  reduced  as  the  student's  skill  increases. 

Practices  and  policies  regarding  lesson  planning  show  considerable  variation  among 
the  Missouri  normal  schools.  At  Kirksville  there  is  no  uniform  system;  a  few  of  the 

1  Lesson  planning  may  well  be  graded,  requiring  at  the  outset  daily  plans  covering  small  units,  and  progressing 
thru  definite  stages  to  the  plan  that  covers  a  relatively  large  unit  of  subject-mattert  tlie  teaching  of  which  will 
occupy  several  recitation  periods. 


816  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

supervisors  require  plans  in  advance,  but  most  of  them,  it  seems,  allow  "plans"  to 
be  worked  out  and  presented  after  the  lesson  has  been  taught!  As  a  review  by  the 
student- teacher  of  what  he  has  attempted  to  do  in  each  lesson,  the  latter  practice 
may  have  considerable  value;  as  a  substitute  for  preliminary  planning,  it  cannot  be 
considered  satisfactory.  Nor  did  the  actual  practice  teaching  observed  in  Kirksville 
justify  in  any  way  the  failure  to  establish  an  effective  routine  of  lesson  planning.  It 
was  clear  in  some  cases  that  the  student-teachers  did  not  take  their  work  seriously, — 
a  condition  that  the  requirement  of  lesson  plans  certainly  tends  to  correct;  and  the 
general  tone  and  spirit  of  the  practice  school  work  indicated  a  looseness  of  standards 
which  must  go  inevitably  with  lack  of  system. 

At  Warrensburg,  each  student-teacher  prepares  daily  the  plan  for  the  next  day^s 
teaching.  This  plan  is  placed  in  the  supervisor's  hands  before  the  close  of  the  day, 
and  is  returned  on  the  following  day,  just  before  the  time  at  which  the  lesson  is  to 
be  given,  unless  the  student  calls  for  it  earlier,  as  he  is  privileged  to  do.  This  prac- 
tice ensures  the  preparation  of  a  plan  by  the  student,  but  it  does  not  ensure  a  confer- 
ence with  the  supervisor,  or,  indeed,  a  review  of  the  plan  in  time  to  make  needed 
corrections. 

At  Cape  Girardeau,  an  effort  is  made  to  prevent  the  lesson  planning  from  becoming 
mechanical  by  discouraging  plans  of  a  too  formal  type.  Brief,  simple  statements  of 
what  the  student- teacher  proposes  to  do  are  required  in  advance,  usually  covering 
three  or  four  lessons.  In  the  later  stages  of  practice  teaching,  the  requirement  as  to 
plans  may  be,  and,  we  take  it,  usually  is  still  further  relaxed. 

At  Springfield,  lesson  plans  are  required  of  each  student-teacher,  sometimes  a  week, 
sometimes  two  days,  in  advance  of  the  day  upon  which  the  lesson  is  to  be  presented. 

At  Maryville,  daily  plans  are  required  in  each  case,  and  whenever  the  student- 
teacher  is  following  the  problem  method,  which  is  heavily  emphasized  in  this  school, 
an  additional  plan  must  be  presented  covering  a  unit  of  work.  The  plans  must  be 
examined  and  returned  by  the  supervisor  before  the  teaching  hour.  Once  each  week 
the  superintendent  of  the  training  school  inspects  all  plans. 

Inspection  of  Class  WorJc,  The  class  work  of  the  student-teacher  must  be  frequently 
observed  if  mistakes  are  to  be  nipped  in  the  bud.  This  again  involves  a  serious  danger 
lest  the  teacher  become  self-conscious,  losing  thereby  both  spontaneity  and  confidence. 
It  is  by  his  success  in  counteracting  this  danger  that  the  wisdom  of  the  supervisor  is 
best  measured;  the  test  of  the  skilful  supervisor  is  the  ability  to  inspire  his  charges 
with  a  confidence  in  his  own  fairness  and  sympathy  that  will  make  his  presence  in  the 
classroom  welcomed  rather  than  dreaded.  In  any  case,  the  need  of  such  visitation  is 
paramount,  and  one  of  the  best  results  of  practice  teaching  upon  the  student-teacher 
is  to  accustom  him  from  the  outset  to  do  his  work  free  from  embarrassment  in  the  pres- 
ence of  other  adults.  To  deal  with  immature  minds  in  a  manner  that  commands  the 
admiration  of  one's  equals  is  the  constant  distinction  of  the  professional  teacher. 

Provision  should  be  made  for  the  visitation  of  each  student-teacher  at  least  once 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING  217 

every  day.  The  visits  need  not  be  always  for  the  full  lesson  period,  altho  sitting  thru 
a  lesson  forms  the  best  basis  for  constructive  criticism,  and  should  occur  at  least  once 
each  week,  and  oftener  at  the  outset  of  the  student's  work.  Generally  speaking,  this 
intensive  supervision  is  the  function  of  the  subject-matter  supervisor,  who  in  every 
case  should  be  either  a  member  of  the  corresponding  academic  department  of  the 
normal  school,  or  in  close  touch  with  it.  The  grade  supervisors  or  critic  teachers,  the 
principal  of  the  training  school,  and  the  director  of  the  training  department  should 
share  in  supervision,  assuming  responsibility  especially  for  safeguarding  the  interests 
of  the  pupils;  for  this  purpose  the  shorter  visits  will  often  be  sufficient 

The  general  impression  of  the  observers  was  that  the  student-teachers  in  the  Mis- 
souri normal  schools  were  not  visited  frequently  enough  by  their  supervisors.  In  the 
course  of  many  visits  to  practice  classes  it  was  rarely  that  a  supervisor  was  either 
found  in  the  room  or  seen  to  enter  during  the  period  of  the  visit.  An  exception  should 
be  noted  in  favor  of  the  primary  departments.  In  practically  all  of  the  institutions, 
the  practice  teaching  in  the  lower  grades  seemed  to  be  much  more  carefully  and 
closely  supervised  than  the  teaching  in  the  intermediate  and  upper  grades.  Particu- 
larly commendable  in  this  respect  were  the  primary  departments  at  Kirksville,  War- 
rensburg,  and  Maryville.  At  Springfield,  the  supervision  of  all  of  the  grades  appeared 
much  more  effective  than  in  any  of  the  other  schools. 

Conferences.  Stated  provisions  for  conferences  are  important  features  of  a  system 
of  supervision,  but  these  may  be  overdone  also.  For  improving  practice  teaching,  the 
stated  but  informal  conference  between  the  supervisor  and  the  individual  student- 
teacher  should  have  the  greatest  emphasis*  Next  to  this  in  importance  is  the  "general" 
conference  of  the  principal  or  director  in  which  all  of  the  student-teachers  and  super- 
visors are  brought  together  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  developing  an  effective  esprit 
de  corps.  Here  the  needs  and  policies  of  the  school  as  a  school  for  children  rather  than 
as  a  laboratory  for  teachers  should  be  the  centre  of  attention,  and  the  conference 
should  become  analogous  to  the  "teachers'  meetings" held  by  the  capable  superin- 
tendent of  a  public  school  system.  The  feeling  upon  the  part  of  each  student  that  he 
holds  to  the  practice  school  the  same  responsible  relationship  as  he  will  later  hold  to 
the  school  in  which  he  serves  for  pay,  often  stimulates  the  kind  of  effort  that  makes 
for  rapid  growth;  to  kindle  this  feeling  of  responsibility  is  a  prime  function  of  the 
head  of  the  training  school,  and  it  is  thru  the  general  conference  that  he  may  most 
directly  promote  this  end.  Conferences  of  this  sort  should  not  be  held  too  often,  for 
they  are  essentially  "  inspirational"  in  character;  perhaps  once  a  fortnight  is  sufficient. 
Group  conferences  of  primary  teachers,  intermediate  grade  teachers,  and  upper  grade 
teachers,  and  conferences  of  teachers  of  English,  arithmetic,  history,  and  other  sub- 
jects are  important.  In  some  schools,  however,  the  number  of  interests  demanding 
conferences  is  so  large  that  the  student-teachers  are  overwhelmed  with  these  engage- 
ments, and  time  and  energy  which  they  could  more  profitably  give  to  intensive  prepa- 
ration for  their  teaching  are  exhausted.  Certainly  a  policy  that  would  consider  group 


218  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

conferences  as  an  acceptable  substitute  for  intensive  classroom  supervision  coupled 
with  individual  conferences  would  be  most  unfortunate. 

The  conferences  of  supervisors  regarding  the  work  of  the  student- teachers  and  the 
condition  of  the  school  as  a  whole,  on  the  other  hand,  are  of  the  very  greatest  impor- 
tance. All  supervisors  who  oversee  the  work  of  the  same  teachers  should  meet  together 
at  least  once  each  week,  under  the  chairmanship  of  the  director,  to  coordinate  the 
different  agencies  of  supervision;  and  meetings  of  all  of  the  supervisors,  constituting 
what  has  been  referred  to  above  as  the  "training-school  cabinet,"  should  be  held  at 
least  once  each  fortnight  to  consider  the  work  of  all  student-teachers  and  the  general 
condition  of  the  school. 

The  requirements  for  conferences  in  the  Missouri  normal  schools  are  in  brief  as 
follows :  At  Kirksville,  the  chief  emphasis  is  laid  upon  the  individual  conference,  for 
which  there  is  apparently  no  stated  time.  General  conferences,  according  to  the  prin- 
cipal of  the  training  school,  are  not  held,  and  group  conferences  are  held  only  occa- 
sionally. At  Cape  Girardeau,  the  primary  supervisors  confer  with  the  student-teachers 
two  or  three  times  each  week.  These  conferences  are  chiefly  individual,  altho  an  occa- 
sional group  conference  is  held.  The  superintendent  of  the  training  school  holds  a 
general  conference  with  the  student-teachers  once  a  week;  the  supervisors  generally 
attend  this  conference;  the  discussions  are  commonly  confined  to  school  management 
and  organization,  and  to  the  phases  of  teaching  that  affect  particularly  the  "personal 
equation."  During  the  first  part  of  the  year  the  superintendent  meets  all  of  the  super- 
visors each  week  in  conference. 

The  conferences  at  Springfield  seem  to  be  much  more  elaborately  organized.  Each 
supervisor  meets  almost  daily  with  each  student-teacher  under  his  supervision,  and  at 
least  once  each  week  he  also  meets  his  group.  A  general  conference  is  held  every  fort- 
night. At  each  of  the  group  conferences  a  member  of  the  cognate  academic  depart- 
ment is  commonly  present;  at  the  general  conference  it  is  customary  to  have  some 
one  not  connected  with  the  school  address  the  student- teachers.  There  are  no  stated 
and  regular  meetings  of  the  supervisory  staff,  but  the  superintendent  confers  daily 
with  the  various  supervisors  as  individuals. 

At  Maryville,  also,  the  conference  plays  an  important  part  in  the  supervision  of 
practice  teaching.  Each  day  the  supervisors  have  two  individual  conferences  with  the 
student-teachers,  one  before  the  lesson  for  the  criticism  of  plans,  and  one  after  the 
lesson  for  a  discussion  of  the  actual  work  done.  The  director  of  the  training  depart- 
ment meets  all  of  the  student-teachers  four  times  each  week.  Regular  assignments 
for  reading  are  made,  and  recitations  and  examinations  are  demanded.  Class  man- 
agement, the  technique  of  teaching,  discipline,  the  administration  of  the  small  school, 
the  state  course  of  study,  and  similar  topics  were  parts  of  the  program  of  this  gen- 
eral conference  during  the  term  when  the  school  was  visited.  This  practice  goes  far 
beyond  the  ground  proposed  in  the  preceding  pages  for  the  general  conference,  and 
really  becomes  equivalent  to  the  course  in  the  technique  of  teaching  and  manage- 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING  219 

ment  that  was  proposed  in  an  earlier  section.1  In  addition  to  these  four  weekly  con- 
ferences, the  principal  of  the  school  meets  all  of  the  student-teachers  and  supervisors 
once  each  week  in  a  teachers'  meeting  at  which  the  general  policies  of  the  school  are 
discussed. 

Testing  Results.  The  supervision  of  teaching — whether  practice  teaching  or  "reg- 
ular" teaching  —  cannot  proceed  effectively  unless  an  intelligent  effort  is  made  to 
check  the  results  of  the  teacher's  work  as  measured  by  the  growth  of  pupils.  It  is  in 
terms  of  such  growth  that  the  outcomes  of  teaching  must  ultimately  be  evaluated, 
and  the  young  teacher  should  be  accustomed  from  the  outset  to  think  of  his  work 
as  measured  finally  by  this  standard.  The  teacher,  like  the  novice  in  other  arts,  grows 
most  rapidly  under  the  stimulus  of  responsibility,  and  the  responsibility  for  securing 
definite  results  cannot  be  impressed  too  early  or  reiterated  too  often. 

The  efforts  to  improve  practice  teaching,  then,  are  not  to  be  limited  to  the  criti- 
cisms and  suggestions  which  the  supervisor  makes  to  the  student  after  his  visits  to 
the  practice  class.  Indispensable  as  they  are,  these  cannot  tell  the  whole  story.  They 
are  concerned  primarily  with  immediate  classroom  happenings, — with  discipline, 
questioning,  illustration,  the  stimulation  of  thought,  the  accuracy  of  the  information 
imparted,  and  the  like.  All  of  these  are  means  to  an  end,  and  the  end,  obviously,  is  the 
pupil's  growth.  An  exclusive  emphasis  upon  the  means  will  tend  to  prevent  a  proper 
perspective  upon  the  problem  as  a  whole, — will  tend  to  exaggerate  means  into  a  simu- 
lacrum of  ends.  In  all  effective  supervision  of  teaching,  therefore,  the  efforts  of  the 
supervisor  must  be  supplemented  by  objective  tests  that  will  determine  the  growth 
that  the  pupils  have  made  under  the  teacher's  direction. 

Program  of  Studies.  Teaching  cannot  be  tested  or  evaluated  in  terms  of  the  pupil's 
growth  unless  the  direction  and  nature  of  the  desired  growth  have  been  previously 
determined.  There  must  be  a  definite  program  of  attainments,  so  to  speak,  which 
shall  be  both  a  guide  to  a  teacher's  efforts  and  a  standard  against  which  to  measure 
his  achievements.  This  program  of  attainments  is  usually  called  a  "course  of  study;" 
but  since  a  well-articulated  program  is  commonly  made  up  of  coordinated  courses 
of  study,  it  may  be  better  designated  as  a  "curriculum."  Whatever  it  may  be  called, 
this  program  is  an  indispensable  part  of  every  school,  and  the  practice  school  is  no 
exception. 

Two  questions  arise  as  to  the  program  of  studies  in  a  practice  school:  (1)  Who 
should  be  responsible  for  its  construction?  and  (2)  How  closely  should  it  resemble 
the  programs  usually  found  in  the  schools  in  which  the  graduates  of  the  normal 
school  may  be  expected  to  teach?  One's  answer  to  either  of  these  questions  will  de- 
pend largely  upon  the  attitude  that  one  takes  toward  a  much  more  fundamental  ques- 
tion of  policy  in  the  organization  and  administration  of  institutions  for  the  prepa- 
ration of  teachers,  namely,  In  how  far  should  such  institutions  assume  the  responsi- 
bility for  initiating  and  promoting  departures  from  existing  educational  practices? 

1  See  page  190.' 


ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

The  significance  of  this  fundamental  question  may  be  made  clearer  by  reference  to 
two  types  of  teacher-training  schools,  each  of  which  is  represented  among  the  Missouri 
institutions.  The  program  of  studies  in  the  Wyman  School  of  Harris  Teachers  College 
is  determined  in  no  way  by  the  college  itself.  It  is  the  standard  and  uniform  "city 
course  of  study,55  adopted  by  the  board  of  education  upon  the  recommendation  of  the 
superintendent.  The  program  of  studies  that  guides  the  cadets  in  their  apprentice 
work  is  this  same  course  of  study.  In  sharp  contrast  with  the  Harris  Teachers  College 
in  this  respect  stands  the  elementary  school  of  the  University  of  Missouri,  which  is 
frankly  an  experimental  school,  altho  used  to  some  extent  for  both  observation  and 
practice.  The  course  of  study  at  this  school  represents  a  practical  attempt  to  trans- 
form the  whole  system  of  elementary  schooling,  and  is  as  unlike  that  of  the  average 
elementary  school  as  could  well  be  conceived. 

The  state  normal  schools,  generally  speaking,  fall  between  these  two  extremes. 
Springfield  more  closely  resembles  the  Harris  Teachers  College  in  that  the  first  eight 
grades  of  the  training  school  follow  the  state  course  of  study,  and  consequently  em- 
body the  type  of  elementary  school  work  which  the  graduate  of  the  normal  school 
will  do  when  he  enters  actual  service.  The  policy  at  Kirksville,  on  the  other  hand, 
more  closely  resembles  that  of  the  university  elementary  school,  in  that  little  or  no 
emphasis  seems  to  be  placed  on  the  coordination  of  the  practice  school  program  either 
with  the  state  course  of  study  or  with  the  elementary  programs  found  in  the  neigh- 
boring district.  Indeed,  at  the  time  of  the  visits  made  to  Kirksville,  the  practice  school 
was  without  a  printed  "course  of  study,"  and  there  was  no  evidence  even  of  a  sylla- 
bus in  manuscript.  Each  supervisor,  it  seems,  prepared  his  own  course.  At  Cape  Gir- 
ardeau  no  use  is  made  of  the  state  course  of  study,  but»a  fairly  typical  elementary 
program  is  published  in  the  annual  catalogue,  and  the  statement  of  the  aims  of  the 
training  school  includes  the  following:  "  To  conduct  an  elementary  and  high  school 
according  to  the  principles  known  to  be  sound  through  the  experience  and  research  of 
leading  educators."  This  seems  to  indicate  that  the  school  is  not  intended  to  be  ex- 
perimental in  its  purposes,  altho  the  superintendent  stated  to  one  of  the  visitors  that 
the  course  of  study  in  the  training  school  is  "always  in  the  making."  At  Maryville, 
the  state  course  of  study  is  not  used.  The  program  for  the  training  school  had  Jbeen 
prepared  apparently  by  the  training-school  staff,  and  represented  radical  departures 
from  the  elementary  programs  in  common  use  in  the  district. 

SHOULD  THE  PRACTICE  SCHOOL  EXPERIMENT  WITH  THE  CURRICULUM? 

From  tibe  point  of  view  of  the  initial  efficiency  of  the  normal  school  graduate  when 
tie  enters  actual  service,  the  policy  which  fits  the  training-school  program  of  studies 
as  closely  as  possible  to  that  of  the  public  schools  is  clearly  to  be  preferred.  From  the 
point  of  view  of  promoting  educational  progress,  it  is  equally  clear  that  this  policy  may 
have  an  unfortunate  tendency  to  perpetuate  the  status  quo.  The  question,  therefore, 
as  to  the  responsibility  of  the  normal  schools  for  the  improvement  of  the  program 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING 

of  studies  in  elementary  schools  in  addition  to  imparting  skill  to  prospective  teachers 
in  these  schools  becomes  one  of  fundamental  significance. 

The  question  is  a  perplexing  one.  From  all  that  can  be  observed,  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  the  leadership  of  the  normal  schools  in  effecting  marked  changes  in  the  elemen- 
tary program  of  studies  has  been  practically  negligible  except  in  one  or  two  notable 
instances.  Many  practice  schools  have  made  radical  departures  that  apparently  have 
had  not  the  slightest  influence  upon  the  public  schools  to  which  they  have  sent  their 
graduates  as  teachers.  A  plausible  explanation  of  this  condition  lies  in  the  fact  that 
the  tenure  of  the  average  elementary  teacher,  even  if  he  be  a  normal  school  graduate, 
is  so  brief  that  the  curriculum  policies  represented  by  the  training  departments  have 
little  opportunity  to  find  lodgment  in  the  public  schools;  programs  of  study  in  towns 
and  cities  are  not  usually  revised  at  the  instance  of  young  and  inexperienced  teachers. 
These  facts  constitute  an  argument  against  the  assumption  by  the  normal  school  of 
responsibility  for  this  phase  of  educational  progress,  especially  when,  as  seems  to  be 
the  case,  it  is  inconsistent  with  ensuring  the  highest  possible  efficiency  of  its  gradu- 
ates in  the  local  schools.  Again,  it  cannot.be  denied  that  many  instances  of  "progres- 
sive" policies  in  constructing  training-school  curricula  are  based  either  upon  an  un- 
reflecting acceptance  of  spectacular  proposals,  or  upon  a  superficial  acquaintance  with 
really  desirable  reform  programs  resulting  in  their  misinterpretation  and  distortion. 
In  either  case,  the  practice  school  becomes  in  effect  a  "freak5"1  school,  the  vagaries  of 
which  are  the  laughing-stock  of  competent  superintendents,  who  may,  nevertheless, 
be  willing  to  take  the  more  capable  graduates  with  the  expectation  that  they  can 
readily  be  readjusted  to  another  system. 

Many  of  these  difficulties  will,  of  course,  be  overcome  and  the  underlying  evils  cor- 
rected with  the  stabilizing  of  educational  theory.  But  even  under  better  conditions, 
it  would  seem  inadvisable  for  the  normal  school  to  attempt*  thru  its  practice  school, 
both  to  train  teachers  how  to  teach  and  to  demonstrate  to  the  public  schools  inno- 
vations in  the  subject-matter  of  instruction.  For  experimentation  in  education  and 
for  the  demonstration  of  every  well-matured  proposal,  there  should  be  abundant  op- 
portunity, and  normal  schools  that  are  adequately  supported  should  be  encouraged  to 
assume  an  important  leadership  in  that  type  of  educational  progress  which  is  repre- 
sented by  curriculum  reform.  But  this  phase  of  their  work  should  not  be  confused 
with  their  primary  duty  of  training  inexperienced  practitioners.  A  normal  school 
may  well  have  its  experimental  school  with  its  staff  of  trained  experimenters;  but 
the  practice  school  should  not  be  an  experimental  school,  in  part  because  the  decision 
regarding  the  value  or  worthlessness  of  this  or  that  innovation  should  not  depend 
upon  what  student-teachers  can  do  with  it,  and  in  part  because  the  student-teacher 
can  be  made  most  efficient  for  Ms  proximate  duties  when  he  deals  with  the  same  kind 
of  materials  that  he  is  likely  to  deal  with  in  his  actual  teaching  service.  The  prac- 
tice school,  in  short,  in  so  far  as  its  curriculum  is  concerned,  should  represent  the 
best  approved  conditions.  This  does  not  mean  that  it  should  limit  itself  to  the  stand- 


ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

ards  of  the  median  or  average  public  school  of  its  district;  it  means  rather  that  it 
should  not  reflect  a  type  of  educational  material  that  the  graduates  in  all  probability 
will  never  be  called  upon  to  teach,  and  readjustments  from  which  in  their  first  teach- 
ing will  inevitably  cause  confusion  and  inefficiency.  This,  of  course,  should  not  pre- 
clude an  open-minded  attitude  upon  the  part  of  student- teachers  toward  new  depar- 
tures; certainly  it  should  not  exclude  the  trial  by  them  of  various  methods  of  teach- 
ing; "  experimentation  *  of  the  latter  sort  should  be  encouraged.  There  is,  of  course, 
a  vast  difference  between  testing  various  methods  of  presenting  subject-matter  and 
attempting  to  test  widely  varying  types  of  such  material. 

For  a  state  normal  school  like  Springfield  to  use  in  its  training  school  the  state 
course  of  study  is  a  most  excellent  policy.  In  some  states,  however,  the  central  depart- 
ments of  education  do  not  publish  official  syllabi  for  the  elementary  schools,  and  in 
other  states  the  published  outlines  are  adapted  particularly  to  rural  school  conditions. 
Often  a  curriculum  must  be  constructed  independently,  and  even  when  an  outline  pre- 
pared by  an  outside  authority  is  used,  it  will  probably  be  well  to  modify  it  to  some 
extent  to  meet  the  legitimately  peculiar  needs  of  a  practice  school  Some  authority 
in  the  normal  school,  therefore,  should  be  responsible  for  the  training-school  curricu- 
lum, and  this  responsibility  may  best  be  lodged  in  the  training-school  cabinet,  com- 
posed, as  has  been  suggested,  of  the  critic  teachers  and  supervisors  including  repre- 
sentatives of  academic  departments,  acting  under  the  chairmanship  of  the  director  of 
training. 

(h)  CONCENTRATED  versus  DISTRIBUTED  PRACTICE  TEACHING 

In  a  majority  of  the  state  normal  schools  of  the  United  States,  the  work  in  practice 
teaching  is  "distributed"  in  the  sense  that  the  student  teaches  for  one  period  each  day, 
carrying  other  normal  school  courses  at  the  same  time,  all  of  the  work,  including  the 
practice  teaching,  usually  constituting  a  full  program.  In  other  words,  the  student's 
energies  during  the  period  of  practice  teaching  are  distributed  among  a  number  of 
stated  engagements  and  activities  of  which  the  actual  work  in  teaching  is  only  one. 
In  a  respectable  minority  of  schools  the  practice  teaching  is  "concentrated"  in  the 
sense  that,  during  the  term,  semester,  or  year  devoted  to  this  work,  it  constitutes  the 
sole  or  at  least  the  chief  business  of  the  student. 

There  are  advantages  and  disadvantages  in  each  type  of  organization.  Other  things 
being  equal,  the  "distributed"  practice  teaching  permits  the  extension  of  practice 
over  a  longer  period  of  time,  an  arrangement  that  is  thought  to  be  favorable  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  in  the  acquisition  of  skill  a  wide  distribution  of  learning  periods 
generally  brings  better  results  than  their  concentration.  This  has  been  experimentally 
demonstrated  for  certain  types  of  skill,  and  authorities  in  educational  psychology  have 
not  hesitated  to  generalize  these  particular  instances  into  a  principle  that  is  favor- 
able to  distributed  learning  in  all  fields  where  skill  is  the  desired  outcome.  It  is  hardly 
likely,  however,  that  the  psychology  of  learning  has  been  a  potent  factor  in  the  es- 


PROFESSIONAL  COURSES  :  PRACTICE  TEACHING 

tablishment  of  the  system  of  distributed  practice;  the  major  reason  for  its  endorse- 
ment has  been  its  administrative  convenience.  Distributed  practice  permits  the  stu- 
dent's programs  to  be  arranged  with  the  course  in  practice  teaching  upon  the  same 
basis  as  the  other  normal  school  courses;  and  when  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 
teaching  in  the  training  school  must  be  done  by  student-teachers,  the  system  gives 
a  better  opportunity  to  ensure  a  sufficient  number  of  teachers  at  all  times  during  the 
year.  Moreover,  for  similar  reasons,  an  elective  system,  with  its  emphasis  on  academic 
subjects  in  preparation  for  the  university  or  out  of  consideration  for  men  students, 
finds  the  distributed  system  preferable  to  one  that  places  practice  in  the  high  light 
of  a  full  term's  concentrated  attention. 

On  the  other  hand,  distributed  practice  involves  a  very  serious  danger  either  that 
the  preparation  for  the  daily  teaching  will  be  neglected  because  of  the  claims  of  other 
courses,  or  that  the  legitimate  demands  of  other  courses  will  be  neglected  because  of 
the  pressure  to  do  good  work  in  teaching;  as  thus  administered,  practice  is  but  one  of 
four  or  more  not  necessarily  related  obligations,  whereas  it  should  be  the  focus  of  all 
the  candidate's  earlier  preparation  and  the  absorbing  centre  of  all  his  present  in- 
terests. In  short,  the  theoretical  advantages  of  distributed  learning  may,  in  the  case 
of  practice  teaching,  be  more  than  offset  by  the  obvious  disadvantages  of  divided 
attention.  Skill  should  certainly  be  one  of  the  results  of  the  work  in  practice  teach- 
ing, but  it  is  not  the  only  outcome  desired;  insight  into  child  nature,  mastery  of 
subject-matter  taught,  sensitiveness  to  unhygienic  conditions  and  to  symptoms  of  dis- 
order— all  of  these  and  many  other  factors  are  sought  in  addition  to  specific  habits. 
The  performance  for  an  hour  each  day  of  a  single,  isolated  unit  of  classroom  work  is 
qualitatively  a  totally  different  experience  from  that  involved  in  concentrating  one's 
full  energy  and  attention  on  the  life  of  a  class  for  a  whole  day  or  a  half  day,  and 
having  every  additional  exercise  planned  with  a  view  to  the  illumination  of  that  one 
intensive  study.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  many  students  who  now  slip  thru  with 
a  fair  average  for  all  subjects  by  the  distributed  plan,  would  fail  ignominionsly  if 
required,  as  they  should  be,  to  stake  everything  on  their  performance  in  this  search- 
ing and  selective  test* 

In  mastering  telegraphy,  typewriting,  and  the  other  arts  from  which  the  experi- 
mental conclusions  concerning  the  value  of  distributed  learning  have  been  mainly 
derived,  it  is  the  habit  side  which  is  important;  one  practising  typewriting  does  not 
have  to  prepare  laboriously  for  each  practice  period,  and  the  factor  of  distraction 
thru  the  pressure  of  other  duties  scarcely  affects  the  development  of  desirable  habits 
as  it  does  in  teaching;  nor  does  the  practice  of  typewriting  involve  anything  akin  to 
the  mastery  of  subject-matter  and  the  understanding  of  child  nature  that  teaching 
involves.  In  teaching  children,  a  habit  that  is  of  any  value  must  be  accompanied  by 
insights  that  may  be  had  only  by  saturation,  as  it  were,  in  the  experience  itself  when 
directed  and  explained  by  those  to  whom  such  insights  are  real.  Perhaps  the  chief 
indictment  of  the  system  of  distributed  practice  is  its  effect  upon  the  pupils  of  the 


ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

practice  classes.  Their  interests  alone  would  seem  to  demand  that  the  work  of  teach- 
ing be  the  primary  interest  of  the  student-teacher  to  the  ends  (1)  that  he  may  make 
the  best  possible  preparation  for  each  day's  work,  and  (2)  that  the  distraction  of  the 
practice  classes  thru  the  frequent  changes  of  teachers  during  the  day  be  reduced  to 
a  minimum. 

Among  the  Missouri  institutions.,  the  concentrated  system  of  practice  teaching 
finds  a  place  only  in  the  Harris  Teachers  College,  where,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  the 
student  spends  his  third  half  year  as  an  apprentice  in  an  elementary  school,  giving 
all  of  his  time  and  energy  to  this  work.  The  practice  teaching  in  the  state  normal 
schools  is  everywhere  upon  the  distributed  basis,1  and  this  is  doubtless  one  expla- 
nation of  the  generally  unsatisfactory  character  of  the  practice  teaching  in  most  of 
them. 

(i)  MOST  FAVORABLE  POSITION  OF  PRACTICE  TEACHING  IN  THE  CURRICULUM 

Practice  teaching  is  usually  placed  in  the  last  year,  semester,  or  term  of  the  stu- 
dent's residence  at  the  normal  school.  In  St.  Louis,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  the  third 
semester  of  the  two-year  curriculum  is  given  over  to  apprentice  teaching,  leaving  the 
fourth  semester  for  the  courses  in  history  and  theory  of  education.  This  plan,  while 
most  commendable  from  the  point  of  view  of  accepted  educational  principles,  is  quite 
unusual  in  normal  schools  and  city  training  schools.  Those  in  charge  of  the  work  are 
naturally  reluctant  to  commit  the  pupils  of  the  training  school  to  the  care  of  student- 
teachers  before  the  latter  have  had  the  advantage  of  all  of  the  academic  and  profes- 
sional instruction  that  it  is  possible  to  give.  With  the  development  of  three-year  and 
four-year  curricula  it  would  be  thoroughly  practicable  to  arrange  the  courses  in  such 
a  way  that  a  final  term  or  semester  could  be  devoted  to  a  type  of  work  designed  to 
summarize  and  interpret  the  results  of  the  preceding  courses  in  the  light  of  fun- 
damental principles.  The  large  advantage  of  this  arrangement  lies  in  the  fact  that 
the  student's  work  is  rounded  out;  he  is  left  with  a  body  of  theory  that  aims  to  or- 
ganize and  systematize  the  details  that  have  gone  before,  and  also  to  provide  a  back- 
ground for  later  growth. 

It  would  be  a  mistake,  however,  to  limit  the  student's  active  contact  with  the  train- 
ing school  to  the  period  of  his  responsible  practice  teaching.  As  soon  as  possible  after 
his  residence  at  the  normal  school  begins,  he  should  be  introduced  to  the  actual  prob- 
lems of  teaching,  partly,  as  we  have  suggested,  thru  systematic  observation  closely 
correlated  with  subject-matter  courses,  and  even  more  intimately  thru  the  type  of 
training-school  work  that  has  been  called  "participation."  This  may  sometimes  in- 

1  The  following  excerpt  from  one  of  the  many  reports  from  normal  school  teachers  gives  a  clear  picture  of  the  sit- 
uation from  within: 

"Concentrated  practice  teaching  was  the  theory  in  the  school  here  to  some  extent  even  when  yon  were  making 
the  survey;  it  had  fuller  sweep  a  year  or  two  earlier.  It  was  administratively  impossible  with  the  wide  elective 
privileges  accorded  to  students.  Further,  adequate  supervision  could  not  be  provided  with  the  funds  available, 
and  many  of  the  candidates  for  diplomas  were  hardly  capable  of  making  adequate  preparation  for  an  entire  day 
of  teaching  work.  Scattered  through  a  rather  wide  list  of  electives  their  failures  were  less  apparent,  tho  doubtless 
not  less  real.'* 


COURSES  IN  SPECIFIC  METHODS 

elude,  as  in  the  plan  developed  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  taking  a  place  as  a 
pupil  in  one  of  the  classes,  preparing  the  lessons,  and  being  ready  at  any  time  either 
to  "  recite"  as  a  pupil  or  to  exchange  places  with  the  regular  teacher.  Participation 
of  this  sort  will  generally  be  limited  to  the  more  advanced  training-school  classes. 
Besides  this,  there  should  be  a  period  of  active  service  as  a  helper  or  assistant  to  the 
regular  teacher,  especially  in  matters  concerning  class  routine,  coaching  individual 
pupils,  preparing  materials,  accompanying  classes  upon  excursions,  and  arranging  for 
dramatic  festivals,  together  with  some  measure  of  responsible  oversight  of  recess  and 
play  periods  in  connection  with  active  participation  in  the  smaller  children's  plays 
and  games,  or  in  the  older  pupils'  athletic  contests. 

The  aim  of  this  active  participation  in  the  work  of  the  training  school  would  be 
twofold:  first,  to  keep  the  student  from  the  outset  in  the  closest  possible  touch  with 
the  problems  that  he  will  have  later  to  face  as  a  teacher;  and,  secondly,  to  prepare 
him  gradually  for  the  more  exacting  responsibilities  of  the  practice  class. 

Work  of  this  sort  has  not  been  highly  organized  in  any  of  the  normal  schools  or 
city  training  schools  of  Missouri,  nor  indeed  is  it  at  all  common  in  the  normal  schools 
of  the  country  at  large.  Its  value  is  so  obvious,  nevertheless,  and  the  results  of  intro- 
ducing it  wherever  it  has  been  carefully  organized  have  been  so  favorable,  that  the 
general  plan  may  be  heartily  commended.  The  most  serious  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
such  procedure  are  to  be  found  in  the  meagre  laboratory  equipment  of  most  of  the 
normal  schools.  This  is  an  additional  reason  for  insisting  that  every  normal  school 
should  have  under  its  control  a  sufficient  number  of  the  local  public  schools  to  en- 
sure adequate  facilities  for  all  varieties  of  practical  work. 

c.  COLLEGIATE  COURSES  IN  SPECIFIC  METHODS  OF  TEACHING 

The  term  "special  methods"  has  been  used  in  American  normal  schools  by  way  of 
contrast  with  "general  method"  to  designate  courses  that  deal  either  with  the  actual 
technique  of  presenting  different  subjects,  or  with  the  specialized  problems  involved 
in  teaching  pupils  at  different  levels  of  advancement.  Thus  we  find,  on  the  one  hand, 
methods  courses  in  arithmetic,  grammar,  geography,  English,  and  similar  subjects, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  courses  in  primary  methods,  intermediate  grade  methods, 
high  school  methods,  and  the  like.  Not  infrequently  the  specialization  has  reference 
both  to  tibe  subject-matter  and  to  the  level  upon  which  it  is  to  be  taught;  for  exam- 
ple, methods  of  teaching  reading  in  the  primary  grades,  or  methods  of  teaching  his- 
tory in  the  high  school.  In  some  schools,  too,  a  distinction  is  made  between  "methods'1 
courses  and  "courses  in  the  teaching  of1"  this  or  that  subject,  the  former  term  refer- 
ring to  elementary  school  subjects,  the  latter  to  high  school  subjects. 

In  theory  these  courses  in  specific  methods  of  teaching  are  usually  conceived  as 
involving  an  explicit  application  of  the  principles  developed  in  the  more  general 
courses,  particularly  psychology,  "general  method,"  and  the  principles  of  teaching, — 


ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

an  expression  of  the  same  belief  in  the  validity  of  a  strictly  deductive  procedure  that 
has  hitherto  characterized  in  general  the  construction  of  curricula  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  teachers.  In  practice,  however,  the  "special  methods"  courses  have  tended  to  be 
quite  empirical.  Sometimes  they  are  simply  subject-matter  reviews,  with  a  few  sug- 
gestions from  the  instructor  as  to  approved  or  disapproved  methods  of  presenting  this 
or  that  topic  to  elementary  classes;1  sometimes  they  touch  but  lightly  the  content 
of  the  subject,  and  lay  their  chief  emphasis  upon  the  principles  of  classroom  technique, 
especially  in  connection  with  such  problems  as  the  recitation,  questioning,  teaching 
pupils  how  to  study,  and  the  like;2  and  still  another  type  of  course  treats  not  only  the 
actual  teaching  of  the  subject,  but  also  its  historical  development  and  its  place  in  the 
general  scheme  of  education.3 

The  normal  school  graduates  who  were  asked  to  rate  the  professional  courses  of 
the  normal  school  in  the  order  of  their  value  in  teaching  placed  the  courses  in  spe- 
cial methods  first  of  all,  and  university  graduates  gave  special  methods  courses  the 
same  preference.4  In  view  of  the  variations  in  these  courses,  it  is  impossible  to  de- 
termine from  the  replies  to  the  questionnaire  just  what  type  of  work  in  the  study  of 
specific  methods  of  teaching  is  of  most  worth,  but  one  may  hazard  the  opinion  that 
the  courses  that  emphasize  careful  study  of  the  subject-matter  to  be  taught  and  the 
best  methods  of  presenting  it  to  elementary  pupils  are  those  that  have  the  largest 
practical  value.  This  would  be  particularly  true  where  the  normal  schools  have  failed 
to  provide  courses  in  these  subjects  in  their  advanced  curricula,  for  in  such  cases  ac- 
quaintance with  the  actual  content  of  one's  future  teaching  is  limited  to  these  courses 
in  special  methods. 


1  The  following  outline,  for  example,  was  submitted  for  a  course  (of  collegiate  grade)  in  the  teaching  of  English  in 
elementary  schools:  Themes,  10  in  all:  Description,  2;  Narration,  2;  Exposition,  4;  Argumentation,  2.  Prepared 
recitations:  Description;  Exposition;  Argumentation;  Diction:  Unequivocalness,  Precision,  Familiarity,  Logical 
conformity.  Functionality,  Idiomatic  usage,  Repetition,  Tone,  Vigor,  Beauty. 

2  While  there  are  in  the  normal  schools  a  few  instances  of  special  methods  courses  that  overlap  the  general  courses 
in  school  management  and  the  technique  of  teaching,  the  most  pronounced  instance  was  found  in  one  of  the  teach- 
ers' courses  in  the  University  of  Missouri  where,  among  other  topics,  the-followmg  were  given  a  large  emphasis: 

1.  The  importance  of  well-organized  classroom  work.  2.  The  recitation,  its  character  and  aim;  problem  viewpoint. 
3.  The  study  of  the  new  lesson  and  its  importance;  teaching.  4.  The  assignments;  home  work  and  school  work; 
reading.  5.  Attention,  interest,  and  good  order  in  the  class.  6.  Special  problems  connected  with  classroom  work. 

On  the  day  when  the  class  was  visited,  the  instructor  spent  most  of  the  hour  in  dictating  directions  for  students' 
observation  of  high  school  work.  Twenty-three  specific  rules  for  observation  were  stated,  no  one  of  which  had  espe- 
cial reference  to  the  teaching  of  the  subject,  but  all  of  which  were  concerned  with  general  problems  of  classroom 
technique. 

In  a  class  on  the  teaching  of  history  in  one  of  the  normal  schools,  the  instructor's  lecture  followed  the  subjoined 
outline:  1.  Supervised  study.  2.  Home  study:  (a)  Have  a  regular  place  for  study.  (6)  Have  a  regular  time  for  study, 
(c)  Use  the  will  power  In  holding  the  mind  and  hand  to  the  lesson.  3.  Rules  for  getting  a  lesson.  (Six  rules  were 
dictated,  no  one  of  which  had  especial  reference  to  history.)  4.  What  to  do  in  supervised  study.  (Five  suggestions 
were  dictated,  one  of  which  had  a  direct  reference  to  history.)  5.  Test  of  supervised  study  in  history. 

3  A  good  example  of  a  course  of  this  type  is  furnished  by  the  following  outline  (a  twelve  weeks  course  in  special 
methods  in  history,  offered  in  one  of  the  normal  schools):  1.  Aim  of  history.  2.  Historical  material.  3.  History  in 
German,  French,  English,  and  American  schools.  4.  The  teacher's  qualifications.  5.  The  organization  of  facts.  6.  Meth- 
ods of  teaching.  7.  The  course  of  study.  8.  Observation  lessons  in  all  of  the  grades  given  from  time  to  time  as  needed 
in  the  course  of  the  work  under  Topic  7.  9.  Several  lessons  on  the  teaching  of  civics  as  presented  by  Bourne,  the 
Committee  of  Eight,  Hinsdale,  Hill,  and  the  Committee  on  Social  Studies  of  the  Commission  on  the  Reorganization 
of  Secondary  Education.  10.  Special  reports. 

*  See  page  442. 


COURSES  IN  SPECIFIC  METHODS 

GOOD  SPECIAL  METHOD  A  FUNCTION  OF  SUBJECT-MATTER  COURSES 

If  the  position  taken  in  the  preceding  sections  of  this  report  is  valid,  the  normal 
schools  of  Missouri  should  give  a  much  larger  place  than  they  do  at  present,  not  to 
detached  courses  in  "special  methods,"  but  rather  to  subject-matter  courses  that  will 
deal  in  a  thorough  manner  with  the  materials  that  the  normal  school  students  will 
later  teach.  A  comprehensive  course  in  arithmetic,  or  in  upper  grade  literature,  or  in 
intermediate  grade  geography — a  course  adapted  to  the  capacities  and  attainments 
of  collegiate  students  —  should  furnish,  from  the  point  of  view  both  of  subject-mat- 
ter and  of  method,  an  adequate,  if  not  an  ideal,  equipment  for  teaching  the  subject. 
According  to  this  plan,  subject-matter  courses  when  thus  thoroughly  "professional- 
ized," may  well  constitute  the  basis  of  each  curriculum  for  the  preparation  of  teachers, 
and  the  illogical  abstraction  of  "method*"  from  the  subject-matter  to  which  it  per- 
tains may  in  this  way  be  largely  eliminated.  This  does  not  mean  that  subject-mat- 
ter courses  should  be  limited  to  the  materials  that  will  appear  in  the  later  teaching- 
programs  of  the  student,  but  the  first  care  should  be  that  such  materials  are  amply 
provided  for.  If  curricula  are  specialized  as  was  suggested  in  an  earlier  section,1  the 
subject-matter  can  be  covered  very  minutely  and  yet  with  fulness;  and  interpreta- 
tions can  be  added  that  will  ensure  courses  of  exceptional  value  to  the  teacher. 

"CURRICULUM"  COURSES 

There  is  one  type  of  "  special  methods"  course,  however,  for  which  there  will  still 
remain  a  place.  While  "  methods  in  arithmetic,"  "methods  in  grammar,"  "methods 
in  geography,"  and  similar  titles  should  in  time  disappear  from  the  catalogues  of  the 
normal  school, replaced  largely  by  "arithmetic,"  "grammar,"  "geography,"  and  so 
forth,  there  should  be  courses  that  will  definitely  aim  to  coordinate  all  of  the  mate- 
rials proposed  for  each  specialized  field.  In  most  normal  schools  one  now  finds  courses 
in  "primary  methods,"  and  occasionally  courses  in  "intermediate  grade  methods," 
"  junior  high  school  methods,"  "  methods  of  high  school  teaching,"  and  "  rural  school 
methods,"  each  intended  to  unify  in  some  measure  the  different  types  of  work  at- 
tempted on  these  various  levels.  Such  courses  represent  the  nearest  approach  to  "  special 
methods"  courses  that  would  be  needed  if  the  entire  curriculum  were  professionalized. 
With  subject-matter  courses  organized  as  their  appropriate  method  of  exposition  re- 
quires, these  other  courses  would  become  essentially  studies  in  the  adaptation  and 
sequence  of  this  properly  organized  subject-matter  to  a  particular  age  or  condition 
of  childhood — curriculum  courses,  as  it  were,  within  the  individual  subjects  them- 
selves. Under  the  plan  of  differentiation  proposed  in  an  earlier  section, l  each  of  these 
curriculum  courses  would  be  in  one  sense  the  central  course,  the  keystone,  of  a  specific 
curriculum. 


1  See  pages  148  ff. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

d  COURSES  IN  ACADEMIC  SUBJECTS 

The  normal  schools  of  Missouri  were  designated  in  an  earlier  section  as  of  the 
"academic"  type.  From  whatever  point  of  view  they  are  examined,  one  cannot  fail  to 
be  impressed  by  the  very  slight  difference  in  apparent  aim  between  the  work  done 
in  the  normal  schools  and  the  work  done  in  non-professional  schools  and  colleges  of 
similar  grade.  This  policy  is  commonly  justified  on  the  ground  that  these  academic 
subjects,  while  apparently  the  same,  are  taught  in  a  way  that  differentiates  them  from 
corresponding  courses  in  institutions  of  general  education  by  revealing  clearly  their 
intimate  relationships  to  the  more  elementary  subject-matter  and  to  the  problems  of 
teaching  in  the  lower  schools.  The  present  section  will  examine  very  briefly  the  valid- 
ity of  this  argument,  especially  in  so  far  as  it  rests  upon  the  assumption  that  the  aca- 
demic courses  are  clearly  differentiated  upon  a  professional  basis. 

(I)  ENGLISH  AND  PUBLIC  SPEAKING 

The  most  striking  feature  of  the  normal  schools'  offerings  in  English1  is  their 
number  and  variety.  In  three  of  the  schools,  the  English  courses  alone  could  engage 
a  student's  entire  time  for  more  than  two  years.  Indeed,  if  we  include  the  few  sec- 
ondary courses,  they  actually  contemplate  a  larger  amount  of  work  in  this  subject 
than  is  offered  by  the  University  of  Missouri.2 

AMOUNT  AND  VARIETY  EXCESSIVE  FOB  SOUND  CURRICULA 

One  may  infer  from  the  list  of  courses  that  collegiate  work  in  English  is  designed 
primarily  to  prepare  high  school  teachers  of  this  subject.  But  it  is  reasonable  to  ask 
whether  this  professional  objective  could  not  be  attained  much  more  effectively  by 
making  specific  curriculum  requirements.3  No  prospective  teacher  of  English  can  take 
all  of  the  courses  offered  in  any  one  of  the  three  schools  even  during  a  three-year 
or  four-year  attendance.  It  would  seem  both  feasible  and  economical,  therefore,  to 
reach  an  agreement  as  to  what  a  teacher  of  English  most  needs  in  the  way  of  academic 
equipment  in  the  subject  rather  than  to  overburden  the  program  with  elective  courses, 
some  of  which  are  certainly  of  less  value  than  others  for  the  purpose  in  view.  The 
limitations  of  the  teaching  staff  would  also  dictate  a  restriction  of  the  offerings*  The 
"load"  upon  the  four  or  five  instructors  in  the  English  department  of  each  of  the 
normal  schools  is  much  heavier  than  appears,  for  some  of  the  courses  are  necessarily 
repeated  two,  three,  or  even  four  times  each  year. 

If  any  advantage  inheres  in  the  policy  of  preparing  high  school  teachers  in  the 
normal  schools,  this  advantage  can  be  best  expressed  in  the  provision  of  real  cur- 
ricula directed  toward  definite  teaching-objectives.  The  colleges  and  the  universities 

1  See  page  406. 

2  The  total  annual  offerings  of  the  English  department  in  the  University  of  Missouri  aggregate  ninety-one  semester 
hours.  This  includes,  as  in  the  normal  schools,  the  courses  in  public  speaking. 

8  Variety  might  be  justified  by  many  different  curricula  were  not  students  with  widely  varying  objectives  regis- 
tered for  the  same  courses. 


ACADEMIC  COURSES  :  ENGLISH 

do  not  supply  such  curricula.  The  universities,  particularly,,  find  the  elective  system 
administratively  expedient  largely  because  selections  can  be  made  from  the  various 
offerings  to  meet  more  or  less  satisfactorily  any  one  of  a  number  of  objectives.  The 
English  department,  for  example,  must  teach  English  to  the  prospective  lawyer^  the 
prospective  journalist,  the  prospective  engineer,  and  the  prospective  physician  (to 
name  but  a  few  of  the  vocations  that  its  students  will  enter)  as  well  as  to  prospec- 
tive teachers.  From  the  point  of  view  of  educational  efficiency,  it  could  do  each  job 
better  if  courses  could  be  organized  that  would  be  specifically  directed  toward  each 
calling,  but  this  is  not  generally  feasible  in  such  institutions.1  The  situation  in  the 
normal  school  is  quite  different.  It  is  preparing  for  one  profession,  or  at  most  for 
related  subdivisions  of  one  profession.  It  has  the  strategic  advantage  of  being  able 
to  concentrate  upon  its  problem  or  upon  its  limited  number  of  related  problems.  In 
Missouri,  the  normal  schools  have  not  risen  to  this  opportunity.  Tho  avowedly  under- 
taking to  prepare  high  school  teachers,  these  schools  are  satisfied  to  imitate  the  prac- 
tices and  policies  of  the  colleges  and  universities, — practices  and  policies  that,  in 
so  far  as  the  training  of  high  school  teachers  is  concerned,  certainly  constitute  a  mis- 
guided leadership. 

PROFESSIONAL  CHARACTER  NEGLIGIBLE 

The  contention  that  these  academic  courses  are  appreciably  modified  in  the  normal 
schools  to  meet  a  professional  need  is  not  borne  out  by  the  best  available  testimony, — 
the  testimony,  namely,  of  the  instructors  themselves.  On  the  question  blanks  sub- 
mitted to  the  instructors  in  the  normal  schools  in  connection  with  the  present  study, 
this  request  appeared: 

"Point  out  definitely  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  pedagogical  element  in  the 
course;  that  is,  just  what  and  how  much  you  do  in  the  course  that  you  would  not 
do  if  the  students  were  not  intending  to  teach.  State,  if  possible,  the  relative 
proportion  of  time  devoted  to  pedagogical  as  compared  with  academic  work." 

In  a  small  minority  of  reports  there  are  suggestions  of  differentiations  with  refer- 
ence to  the  professional  purpose.  A  very  few  of  these  are  definite  and  indicate  that 
the  instructor  has  deliberately  organized  his  work  with  the  needs  of  prospective  teach- 
ers in  view.  For  example: 

"Considerable  attention  is  given  informally  to  the  problems  of  teaching  read- 
ing and  elementary  public  speaking  in  rural  schools  and  the  grades.  The  entire 
method  of  the  class  is  planned  for  helpfulness  in  teaching  similar  work  to  more 
elementary  students."  (Course  in  Oral  English  and  American  Literature.) 

The  following  replies,  however,  are  typical  of  the  attitude  of  three-fourths  of  the 
teachers  of  English  and  American  literature: 

"The  course  is  chiefly  academic.  Possibly  more  attention  is  given  to  the  selection 

1  Altho  in  some  universities,  the  engineering  colleges  have  insisted  on  specialized  courses  for  their  students  in  such 
subjects  as  English  and  mathematics. 


230  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

and  grouping  of  material  than  would  be  given  ordinarily.  In  other  respects  it 
does  not  differ  in  method  from  the  courses  usually  planned  for  students  who 
have  no  intention  of  teaching."  (Course  on  American  Poets.) 

"I  should  probably  do  the  same  kind  of  work,  the  ability  of  the  students  being 
the  same,  were  I  teaching  in  any  other  kind  of  an  institution."  (Course  in  Shake- 
speare.) 

"To  cover  the  ground,  the  course  must  be  mainly  academic.  Time  is  lacking  for 
more  than  minor  mention  of  the  methods  and  suitableness  of  teaching  and  sub- 
ject-matter respectively.  But  there  is  a  required  course  taken  by  these  students, 
the  teaching  of  literature,  that  covers  the  pedagogical  side  of  the  question." 
(Course  in  American  Literature.) 

" Pedagogy  in  this  course  is  incidental  —  only  so  far  as  proper  methods  are 
employed  by  the  teacher  is  pedagogy  exemplified  with  occasional  reference  to 
why  a  certain  method  of  development  was  employed  and  wherein  further  ampli- 
fication would  be  necessary  with  younger  pupils."  (Course  in  Literature  offered  to 
candidates  for  Rural  Certificate.) 

"Only  incidental  work  of  a  pedagogical  nature."  (Course  in  English  Drama.) 

"No  special  pedagogical  work.  The  aim  is  to  present  a  method  of  literary  study 
and  a  knowledge  of  the  period  covered."  (Course  in  Wordsworth.) 

"The  only  direct  pedagogical  element  is  the  discussion  of  suitable  modern  liter- 
ature to  introduce  into  the  school  course,  the  library,  etc."  (Course  in  Recent  and 
Contemporary  Literature.) 

"The  course  is  almost  entirely  academic.  Of  course,  the  feeling  that  most  of 
the  class  will  be  teachers  modifies  the  nature  of  the  instruction  to  some  extent." 
(Course  in  English  Literature.) 

The  reports  from  teachers  of  composition  and  rhetoric  are  of  the  same  negative 
tenor, — "Course  entirely  academic;"  "Pedagogical  element  incidental;"  and  so 
forth.  But  again,  in  a  small  minority  of  the  cases,  one  comes  across  suggestions  of 
a  definite  sort,  as  the  following: 

"  I  seek  to  secure  the  habit  of  ascertaining  the  cause  of  all  errors  and  the  reason 
of  all  effectiveness  in  composition  or  speech.  I  seek  also  to  emphasize  funda- 
mental principles  in  terms  so  simple  and  clear  that  they  can  readily  be  trans- 
ferred to  very  elementary  composition  instruction." 

An  opinion  that  is  probably  more  general  among  teachers  of  academic  subjects 
than  the  statements  in  their  replies  indicate  is  frankly  expressed  by  an  instructor 
in  English  composition;  the  italics  are  ours : 

"/  can  hardly  be  so  foolish  as  to  spend  apart  of  my  time  giving  the  training  and 
part  showing-  how  to  give  it  to  others.  I  expect  that  the  students  who  expect  to 
teach  composition  will  make  careful  note  of  the  methods  and  practices  of  this 
course.  I  do  give  the  students  considerable  training  in  grading  each  others' 
themes,  but  that  ought  to  be  done  in  any  theme  course,  and  is  done  in  most 
university  courses  in  composition." 


ACADEMIC  COURSES  :  ENGLISH  231 

How  SHOULD  CONTENT  COURSES  BE  PROFESSIONALIZED? 

There  is,  undoubtedly,  a  firm  conviction  on  the  part  of  many  teachers  that  sub- 
ject-matter and  methods  must  be  separated,  the  latter  following  the  former  in  every 
case.  According  to  this  point  of  view,  an  attempt  to  do  the  two  things  at  once  is  to 
incur  the  risk  of  divided  attention  with  the  probability  that  neither  will  be  done  well. 
This  is,  of  course,  a  danger  to  be  avoided.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  those  who 
take  this  view  have  an  exaggerated  idea  of  what  "method"  is.  Mastery  of  method  in 
a  given  material  is  after  all  little  more  than  a  clear  consciousness  of  the  way  in  which 
the  material  shapes  itself  most  advantageously  to  the  learner.  There  should  be,  there- 
fore, no  question  of  teaching  subject-matter  and  methods  simultaneously  as  diverse 
objects  of  attention;  it  is  rather  a  matter  of  utilizing  the  actual  experience  of  the 
student  in  learning  in  order  to  throw  light  upon  his  later  problem  of  teaching.  Cer- 
tain pedagogical  problems  may  well  be  relegated  to  methods  courses, —  or  preferably 
to  what  were  referred  to  in  the  preceding  section  as  "  curriculum"  courses, — but  the 
large  problem  of  organizing  the  subject-matter  for  teaching  and  of  indicating  the 
points  at  which  the  teacher's  emphasis  must  fall  can  in  general  be  solved  nowhere 
so  well  as  in  the  subject-matter  course  itself.  Whether  it  be  a  "review"  or  a  "new 
view,"  the  student's  experiences  in  learning  or  relearning  will  form  the  best  concrete 
basis  for  an  understanding  of  the  special  "pedagogy"  of  the  subject.  While  these 
experiences  are  fresh,  they  should  be  studied  and  discussed  to  the  end  that  they  may 
be  registered  in  the  student's  mind  and  be  subject  to  recall  when  he  himself  essays 
the  teacher's  task.  Thus  his  whole  education  sensitizes  him  to  the  learning  process;  it 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  skilful  teacher  is  one  who  can  recall  most  clearly  the 
successive  steps  of  his  own  mastery  and  thru  these  reconstruct  in  imagination  the 
situation  which  the  pupil  is  facing.  The  teacher  who  cannot  do  this  is  the  teacher  who 
is  likely  to  leave  out  essential  stages  in  instruction  and  then  to  charge  up  his  fail- 
ure against  the  stupidity  of  his  pupils.  It  is  just  this  power  of  recall  and  of  self- 
analysis  in  fresh  learning  that  explains  the  humility  and  sympathy  of  the  learning 
teacher  as  contrasted  with  the  mental  snobbery  of  the  teacher  who  does  not  insist 
that  he  himself  from  time  to  time  attack  strange  and  difficult  material  To  be  sure, 
his  own  experiences  with  subjects  that  cause  his  students  difficulties  gradually  fade 
unless  thoroughly  studied  and  rationalized  at  the  time,  but  the  all-essential  attitude 
of  the  learner  must  be  maintained  if  he  would  really  teach. 

The  instructors  in  reading  and  public  speaking  seem  to  detect  and  use  the  oppor- 
tunities for  this  type  of  training  much  more  frequently  than  do  the  teachers  of  com- 
position and  literature.  We  find,  for  example,  these  interesting  illustrations  in  their 
replies: 

"Students  are  called  on  for  comment  and  criticism  of  the  work  of  others. 
The  standards  of  criticism  are  discussed.  The  psychological  foundation  of  oral 
interpretation  is  discussed  and  illustrations  given  by  the  teacher.  This  is  applied 
in  the  later  work  of  the  class:  when  an  error  is  made,  some  member  of  the  class 


ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

is  given  the  opportunity  to  try  to  get  the  right  interpretation; — by  means  of 
question  and  suggestion  giving  the  right  mental  stimulus  to  the  reader.  About 
one-fourth  of  the  term  is  given  definitely  to  the  pedagogical  element  in  the 
work.  More  pedagogical  work  is  done  incidentally;  that  is,  attention  is  called 
to  method  pursued  in  obtaining  a  certain  interpretation;  this  is  done  in  pass- 
ing." (Course  in  Expression.) 

"Questions  for  debate  are  chosen  to  meet  the  needs  of  high  school  teachers.  How 
to  organize  societies  in  debate,  how  to  judge  results,  how  to  criticise — all  are 
discussed."5*  (Course  in  Debating.) 

"All  the  burden  of  criticism  is  thrown  upon  the  members  of  the  class  as  soon 
as  adequate  standards  of  criticism  can  be  set  up.  By  this  means  the  students  are 
taughttomake  discriminatingbut  tactful  judgments  about  reading  and  speaking. 
"The  material  for  reading  in  the  projects  which  each  is  required  to  under- 
take, is  taken  from  those  bits  of  school  literature  which  have  been  or  are  likely 
to  prove  difficult  to  handle. 

"The  reasons  for  successful  and  unsuccessful  attempts  in  reading  and  speak- 
ing in  the  public  schools  are  probed  in  great  detail. 

"The  class  is  notified  early  in  the  course  that  any  move  made  by  the  in- 
structor in  the  conduct  of  the  recitation  or  in  the  arrangement  of  the  material 
will  be  cheerfully  explained  on  request. 

"About  one-fourth  of  my  time  in  class  is  spent  upon  the  strictly  pedagogical 
aspects  of  the  subject.""  (Course  in  Elementary  Reading  and  Speaking.) 

The  fact  that  the  courses  in  public  speaking  have  been  so  clearly  and  definitely 
adapted  to  the  professional  purpose  of  the  normal  schools  in  comparison  with  the 
courses  in  rhetoric,  composition,  and  literature  is  perhaps  to  be  explained  by  their 
relatively  recent  development  as  collegiate  subjects.  Their  adjustment  to  specific  pur- 
poses is  not  so  likely  to  be  impeded  by  the  traditions  that  naturally  cluster  about  & 
subject  that  has  been  organized  and  taught  for  a  relatively  long  time. in  the  field 
of  "  general n  education.1 

(£)  ANTCIENX  LANGUAGES 

Courses  in  the  ancient  languages,  and  especially  in  Latin,  form  a  substantial  pro- 
portion of  the  total  offerings  at  each  of  the  normal  schools,  altho  the  actual  enrolment 
of  collegiate  students  in  these  courses  is  so  small  as  to  be  almost  negligible.2  Cape 
Girardeau  provides  ninety-one  and  one-third  semester  hours  of  Latin  and  Greek  and 
three  secondary  units  of  Latin — certainly  an  ambitious  program  for  the  single  in- 
structor assigned  to  this  work.  These  are  approximately  equal  to  the  offerings  in 
Latin  and  Greek  at  the  University  of  Missouri,  where  a  teaching  staff  equivalent  to 
at  least  four  full-time  instructors  is  provided. 

It  is  clear  that  very  few  of  these  courses  actually  are  or  can  be  given  during  any 

1  This  is  not  to  say  that  these  "academic  "  traditions  are  always  to  be  deplored.  In  curricula  of  the  general  or  lib- 
eral type,  the  plan  of  organization  which  is  based  upon  the  organic  development  of  a  body  of  knowledge  will  doubt- 
less furnish  the  best  pattern  for  the  organization  of  the  teaching.  The  danger  lest  the  work  become  detached  and 
formal  may  be  corrected  by  the  present  tendency,  even  in  these  general  courses,  to  employ  the  "problem  "  method. 

2  See  page  406. 


ACADEMIC  COURSES  :  ANCIENT  LANGUAGES  233 

one  year,  and  yet  nothing  appears  in  the  catalogue  to  indicate  this  fact,  —  a  policy 
of  catalogue  construction  that  is  the  legitimate,  or  perhaps  illegitimate,  child  of 
the  elective  system.  It  is  the  custom  at  certain  universities  to  announce  in  advance 
courses  that  constitute  an  organic  sequence  thru  several  years.  The  normal  schools 
have  no  such  excuse  ;  the  courses  have  no  reference  to  work  actually  under  way,  and 
are  apparently  published  for  the  sake  of  appearances  only.1 

Another  interesting  fact  is  revealed  by  a  comparative  examination  of  the  offer- 
ings of  the  schools.  Out  of  twenty-six  different  collegiate  courses  in  Latin  offered 
by  the  five  normal  schools,  only  three  (Cicero,  Vergil,  and  the  teachers'  course)  are 
found  in  all  of  the  schools.  Twelve  different  courses,  aggregating  more  than  fifty- 
five  semester  hours  of  credit,  are  found  only  once  in  the  list,  and  seventeen  different 
courses,  aggregating  eighty-six  semester  hours  of  credit,  are  found  in  fewer  than 
three  of  the  schools.  The  conclusion  seems  justified  that,  even  in  so  old  and  well- 
standardized  a  subject  as  Latin,  there  is  considerable  difference  of  opinion  as  to  what 
the  qualifications  of  the  secondary  teacher  should  be.  It  is  scarcely  possible  that  all 
of  the  courses  finding  a  place  upon  this  list  are  of  equal  value  in  the  preparation 
of  students  who  are  planning  to  teach  Latin  in  the  high  schools. 

Upon  the  part  of  the  instructors  in  the  classical  languages  a  spirit  of  genuine  de- 
votion to  the  cause  of  Latin  education  was  noted  in  each  of  the  schools.  This  is  due 
in  part,  of  course,  to  the  necessity  that  the  classicists  have  faced  of  defending  their 
studies  against  criticism.  The  following  extract  from  the  outline  of  one  of  the  in- 
structors is  typical  of  the  attitude  : 

"It  is  a  part  of  this  course  to  show  that  Latin  has  its  place  in  Education. 

To  show  the  student  that  Latin  trains  along  the  lines  of  observing:,  reasoning, 

recording  and  expressing.  So  much  stress  is  placed  upon  this  that  it  is  hoped  the 

student  will  carry  away  an  attitude  which  will  tend  to  make  him  use  this  subject 

as  a  medium  for  the  advancement  of  the  essentials  named.*7 

But  this  keen  enthusiasm  for  education  in  Latin  upon  the  part  of  the  instructors 
is  not  peculiar  to  the  normal  schools,  nor  are  its  expressions  here  essentially  different 
from  what  one  hears  in  the  classical  departments  of  the  liberal  colleges  and  univer- 
sities. Whatever  may  be  the  ultimate  solution  of  the  Latin  problem,  the  normal 
schools  that  prepare  high  school  teachers  have  a  unique  opportunity  which  cannot 
be  adequately  met  merely  by  reiterating  the  traditional  affirmations  of  the  value 
of  classical  study.  The  only  way  in  which  Latin  can  escape  the  stigma  of  a  "dead" 
language  is  for  it  to  show  life.  This  is  fundamentally  a  teaching  problem,  and  it  is 
here  that  the  normal  schools  have  their  golden  opportunity.  There  are  exceEent  Latin 

1  In  one  of  the  schools  visited  in  the  spring  of  1915,  twenty-seven  collegiate  courses  in  ancient  languages  were  listed 
in  the  catalogue,  and  by  a  curious  coincidence  just  twenty-seven  students  of  collegiate  grade  were  enrolled  m  the 
department  When  the  instructor  was  asked  why  so  many  courses  were  offered,  he  replied  ;  'The  Board  gauges 
a  man  by  the  class  enrolments  ;  hence  instructors  offer  a  large  number  of  courses."  By  another  curious  coincidence, 
this  instructor  during  the  term  in  question  taugh  t  twenty-seven  hours  each  week.  In  the  following  year,  the  aver- 

asses in  the  classics  was  approximately  twenty-one  students,  omded 


s  nsrucor    ur  -  . 

age  enrolment  in  all  of  the  collegiate  classes  in  the  classics  was  approximately  twenty-one  students,  omded 
among  three  classes.  The  class  enrolments  varied  from  three  to  sixteen  with  an  average  of  seven.  The  instructor 
carried  in  addition  two  units  (ten  hours  a  week)  of  secondary  work. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

teachers  in  the  Missouri  normal  schools  who  could  do  much  to  pass  on  to  their  stu- 
dents not  only  a  subject  which  they  have  made  vital  in  their  own  instruction  but  the 
art  of  making  it  vital.  Every  course  must  be  in  a  very  real  sense  a  teacher's  course, 
If  the  preparation  of  high  school  teachers  of  Latin  could  be  assigned  to  a  single 
school;  if  then  the  instructor  could  concentrate  upon  six  or  eight  fundamental 
courses  with  the  aforesaid  aim,  undistracted  by  the  presence  in  his  classes  of  students 
who  are  taking  Latin  for  purposes  other  than  teaching,  and  unworried  by  demands 
for  "numbers/*  he  could  conceivably  do  more  to  ensure  the  permanence  of  his  subject 
in  the  nation's  culture  than  the  heated  arguments  of  the  controversialist  have  so  far 
accomplished.1 

(8)  MODEEN  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES 

In  the  total  number  of  courses  offered  in  modern  foreign  languages,  the  variations 
among  the  five  schools  are  not  significant.2  Kirksville,  however,  concentrates  its  ener- 
gies upon  one  language,  while  Warretisburg  and  Springfield  provide  instruction  in 
two,  and  Cape  Girardeau  in  three. 

The  instructors'  reports  indicate  that  few  If  any  of  the  courses  are  taken  exclu- 
sively by  prospective  teachers  of  foreign  languages.  In  most  cases,  indeed,  the  enrol- 
ment is  far  from  homogeneous.  It  is  consequently  not  to  be  expected  that  the  instruc- 
tion will  reveal  a  clear  adaptation  to  a  professional  purpose.  With  one  exception,  the 
instructors  report  that  the  courses  are  conducted  substantially  as  they  would  be  in 
any  institution  of  similar  grade.  The  exception  is  interesting  in  the  light  that  it 
throws  on  the  kind  of  differentiation  that  is  both  possible  and  profitable: 

"I  usually  have  students  visiting  the  course  who  have  had  several  years  of 
German,  but  intend  to  teachs  so  various  points  are  emphasized  for  their  benefit 
— that  is:  they  are  told  that  such  points  should  be  emphasized;  it  becomes  a 
conscious  process;  while  these  points  are  emphasized  or  drilled  just  as  much 
without  their  presence,  the  student  is  less  conscious  of  the  same  process."  (Class 
in  First-^year  German.) 

The  fact  that  advanced  students  who  are  preparing  to  teach  the  subject  attend 
this  beginners'  class  without  credit  for  the  sake  of  receiving  this  essentially  profes- 
sional instruction  in  the  rudiments  of  the  language  is  in  itself  testimony  to  the  need 
and  value  of  courses  of  this  type  covering  the  fundamental  subject-matter  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  teacher.  It  is  possible  that,  in  the  languages,  visiting  beginners' 
classes  of  high  school  grade  would  be  preferable  for  this  purpose  to  enrolment  in  col- 
legiate classes  of  the  "review"  type;  but  even  in  this  case,  there  would  be  a  distinct 
advantage  in  having  the  visiting  students  actually  registered  in  the  class,  under  some- 

1  What  might  be  done,  and  one  of  the  obstacles  which  prevents  its  being  done  more  generally,  will  be  clear  from 
the  following  report: 

;*  Not  much  of  the  pedagogical  element  is  included,  tout  some.  Whatever  is  stressed  is  pointed  out  and  the  learner 
is  made  to  know  and  feel  the  reason  for  this  stress.  Difficulties  of  Latin  peculiar  to  Cicero  are  dwelt  upon  and 
the  method  of  mastering  them  constantly  held  up  to  the  class.  But  as  many  take  Latin  who  will  probably  not 
teach,  pedagogy  is  not  made  prominent."  (Course  in  Cicero's  Orations.') 
*  See  page  407. 


ACADEMIC  COURSES  :  HISTORY  235 

thing  akin  to  the  "participation"  plan  already  referred  to;  that  is,  they  should  be 
responsible  for  preparing  each  lesson  and  should  be  ready  to  "recite"  as  regular  pupils. 
In  the  advanced  classes,  too,  there  should  be  innumerable  opportunities  for  the 
kind  of  professional  work  that  has  been  emphasized  in  the  preceding  discussions, — 
that  is,  analysis  of  the  students'  own  experiences  in  learning  as  a  means  for  laying 
bare  the  principles,  precepts,  and  ideals  of  teaching.  In  so  far  as  the  observations 
made  in  connection  with  the  present  study  furnish  a  basis  for  judgment,  it  should 
be  said  that  the  teaching  of  the  modern  languages  in  the  normal  schools  is  excep- 
tionally well  adapted  to  serve  as  a  model  of  what  expert  and  highly  efficient  teaching 
in  this  field  should  do.  It  remains  only  to  make  its  potential  value  dynamic  by  sys- 
tematically bringing  to  the  students'  consciousness  the  details  of  artistry  that  con- 
stitute so  important  a  part  of  its  excellence.  Judging  from  the  instructors'  reports,, 
these  details  are  now  left  in  the  background  for  the  student  to  detect  and  profit  by 
if  he  can.  But  the  very  essence  of  artistry  in  teaching,  as  in  other  fields,  lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  elements  which  make  it  up  are  hard  to  detect.  One  looking  upon  a  fine  bit  of 
teaching  is  likely  to  be  impressed  by  its  apparent  simplicity,  and  to  conclude  that 
after  all  any  one  could  do  as  well, — just  as  one  is  likely  to  gain  a  similar  impression 
from  observing  the  finest  acting  or  listening  to  good  public  speaking.  Like  the  seri- 
ous student  of  any  art,  the  prospective  teacher  who  is  working  with  a  real  master 
must  get  something  more  than  the  total  effect  of  the  masterly  teaching :  he  must  see 
the  elements  that  make  up  this  total  effect,  and  understand  something  of  the  part 
that  each  plays.  The  best  time  to  do  this,  we  believe,  is  immediately  after  he  has 
himself  gone  thru  with  the  very  learning  experience  which  it  was  the  master's  purpose 
to  bring  about. 

(4)  HISTORY  AND  GOVERNMENT 

What  was  said  in  the  section  that  treated  of  the  courses  in  English  composition 
and  literature  will  hold  in  the  main  for  the  normal  school  courses  in  history.  The 
variations  in  the  amount  of  work  offered,  among  the  different  schools,  are  somewhat 
wider  than  in  the  case  of  English.1  Kirksville  provides  collegiate  courses  in  history, 
government,  and  economics  to  the  extent  of  one  hundred  semester  hours,  and  in  ad- 
dition offers  secondary  courses  aggregating  two  and  two- thirds  units,  equivalent  in 
the  demands  upon  the  teaching  staff  to  at  least  twenty  semester  hours.  In  history 
Kirksville  offers  more  work  than  the  University  of  Missouri.2  The  offerings  in  the 
other  normal  schools,  however,  are  significantly  fewer,  Springfield  providing  for  only 
thirty-seven  and  one-half  semester  hours  with  two  and  one-third  units  of  secondary 
courses. 

Again,  the  question  is  not  whether  a  normal  school  is  to  be  criticised  for  offer- 

1  See  pages  407,  408. 

2  The  history  offerings  at  the  University  of  Missouri  in  1911-18  totaled  60  semester  hours;  at  Kirfcsrille,  subtracting 
the  30 'semester  hours  in  government,  economics,  and  sociology,  the  history  offerings  on  the  collegiate  level  amount 
to  70  hours. 


236  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

ing  more  work  in  a  certain  subject  than  is  offered  by  a  university;  it  is  conceivable 
that  this  may  be  justified.  The  question  is  rather  whether  the  work  that  is  offered 
is  designed  to  meet  the  particular  professional  need  for  which  the  normal  school 
exists.  The  outlines  submitted  in  history  reveal  in  fewer  cases  than  those  in  English 
any  attempts  to  professionalize  the  work.  Even  in  the  reports  on  American  history, 
the  replies  indicate  that  there  is  no  significant  modification  of  the  courses  from  the 
academic  type.  The  comment  most  frequently  made  is  that  nothing  is  attempted  in 
a  pedagogical  way  beyond  making  the  teaching  as  good  as  possible  in  order  that  it 
may  serve  as  a  model;  in  three  or  four  instances  the  instructors  state  that  develop- 
mental methods  of  teaching  are  emphasized  much  more  than  would  be  the  case  were 
the  students  not  preparing  to  teach.  Two  illustrations  will  typify  the  character  of 
nine-tenths  of  the  responses : 

"  Formal  pedagogy  is  little  thought  of.  I  have  never  really  thought  of  consider- 
ing the  pedagogical  and  academic  work  as  separate  in  this  course.  But  I  am  try- 
ing to  teach  teachers  or  prospective  teachers.  I  do  not  believe,  however,  that  I 
would  change  the  course  a  great  deal  if  none  of  the  people  were  to  be  teachers. 
Of  course  if  none  were  to  be  teachers,  I  would  bother  very  little  with  special 
reports  on  how  to  teach  the  subject  in  the  high  school."  (Course  in  American 
Constitutional  History.} 

"  The  pedagogical  element  consists  mostly  in  the  teacher's  methods  and  exam- 
ple. The  course  is  more  or  less  a  'model  course.5" 

It  does  not  seem  to  be  realized  that  however  much  or  little  a  student  may  learn  by 
"  unconscious  imitation,"  nine-tenths  of  the  value  of  a  "model  course"  in  subject- 
matter,  as  in  the  training  school,  is  lost  on  a  prospective  teacher  unless  the  distinc- 
tive elements  that  make  it  a  "model""  are  explicitly  pointed  out  at  the  time.  In  his 
attempts  to  do  this  many  a  normal  school  teacher  might  discover  serious  defects  in 
his  teaching  as  measured  by  the  results  in  individual  cases,  and  it  would  not  be  unfair 
to  require  him,  as  a  model-maker,  to  measure  his  success  by  the  extent  to  which  he 
could  justify  his  procedure  to  his  young  critics.  Such  is  precisely  the  problem  of  the 
clinical  operator. 

The  courses  in  civics  and  government  are  not  essentially  different  from  the  courses 
in  history  in  this  respect,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  courses  that  emphasize 
community  civics,  where  an  explicit  attempt  is  made  to  illustrate  the  use  of  local 
materials.  In  describing  one  of  the  courses  offered  in  the  history  of  Missouri  the 
instructor  also  emphasized  his  efforts  to  acquaint  students  with  the  possibilities  of 
utilizing  the  immediate  environment. 

(5)  MATHEMATICS 

Collegiate  courses  in  mathematics  in  the  normal  schools  are  relatively  less  nu- 
merous than  those  in  English  and  history,  and  in  no  school  do  they  aggregate  in 
semester  hours  one-half  of  the  corresponding  offerings  at  the  University  of  Missouri. 


ACADEMIC  COURSES  :  MATHEMATICS 

Doubtless  one  reason  for  this  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  preparation  of  the  high  school 
teacher  of  mathematics  is  much  mqp e  definitely  standardized  than  is  the  preparation 
of  the  English  or  history  teacher.  It  is  generally  assumed  that,  as  a  basis  for  teach- 
ing secondary  mathematics,  one  should  have  had  collegiate  courses  in  solid  geometry, 
trigonometry,  college  algebra,  analytical  geometry,  and  the  calculus ;  and  the  appear- 
ance of  these  subjects  upon  the  programs  of  normal  schools  that  aim  to  prepare  high 
school  teachers  is  to  be  expected.  For  good  measure,  two  schools  add  the  theory  of 
equations,  four  schools  surveying,  and  two  schools  astronomy.1 

It  is  open  to  question  whether  the  courses  in  surveying  and  the  theory  of  equa- 
tions might  not  better  be  replaced  with  a  composite  course,  somewhat  similar  in 
scope  to  the  "industrial  mathematics"  offered  at  Warrensburg, 2  but  requiring  as 
prerequisites  trigonometry,  solid  geometry,  and  perhaps  analytical  geometry  and 
the  calculus,  rather  than  being  open  to  any  high  school  graduate  as  is  the  Warrens- 
burg  course.  In  other  words,  would  it  not  be  well,  upon  the  advanced  training  pro- 
vided by  the  collegiate  courses,  to  organize  a  distinct  course  in  applied  mathematics 
that  would  enable  the  prospective  high  school  teacher  very  richly  to  supplement  the 
secondary  courses  that  lie  is  planning  to  teach?  This  could  well  include  such  infor- 
mation regarding  surveying  as  would  be  most  useful  to  a  high  school  teacher  who, 
after  all,  is  not  planning  to  give  a  technical  training  to  embryo  civil  engineers,  but 
rather  to  utilize  his  knowledge  of  measurements  as  a  basis  for  vivifying  elementary 
algebra  and  geometry.  It  could  also  include  some  reference  to  navigation,  aviation, 
machine  construction,  and  other  arts,  the  technical  details  of  which  are  beyond  the 
high  school  pupil,  but  certain  insights  into  which  he  may  easily  gain  in  connection 
with  his  courses  in  elementary  algebra  and  geometry.  The  normal  school  student  who 
is  looking  forward  to  high  school  teaching  in  mathematics  could  advantageously 
take  this  "applied59  course  after  he  has  had  the  collegiate  courses  named,  partic- 
ularly in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  accepted  standards  for  preparing  a  high  school 
teacher  of  mathematics  require  him  to  take  these  collegiate  courses  in  any  case  if  he 
wishes  to  qualify  himself  for  the  better  positions. 

It  would  seem,  too,  that  for  purposes  of  preparing  the  high  school  teacher,  it 
would  be  possible  to  reduce  college  algebra,  analytical  geometry,  and  the  calculus 
each  to  four  semester  hours  in  place  of  the  five  or  six  that  most  of  the  schools  offer. 
This  with  other  possible  reductions  would  make  it  feasible  to  offer  and  require  one 
or  more  courses  dealing  with  the  actual  content  of  algebra  and  geometry  as  taught 
in  the  high  schools, — courses  that  would  be  " professionalized5"*  in  the  same  thorough- 
going manner  that  has  been  described  in  connection  with  collegiate  courses  in  the 
elementary  subjects.  This,  again,  is  a  step  that  the  normal  schools  of  Missouri  might 
profitably  take  toward  constructing  real  professional  curricula  for  secondary  teachers. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  quote  in  detail  from  the  instructors'  outlines  the  state- 
ments that  reveal  as  plainly  as  in  the  courses  previously  discussed  the  almost  total 

1  See  page  408.    2  See  Catalogue*  1917-18,  page  80. 


238  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

absence  of  any  clear  adaptation  of  the  work  to  a  professional  purpose.  In  an  old 
and  highly  standardized  subject  like  mathematics  this  is  perhaps  little  to  be  won- 
dered at,  and  yet  the  demands  that  mathematical  study  makes  upon  even  the  keen- 
est native  intelligence  are  so  great  that  the  experience  of  learning  in  this  field  could 
be  made  of  very  great  service  in  gaining  an  insight  into  the  problems  of  teaching. 
One  of  the  instructors  has  at  least  glimpsed  the  possibilities  in  connection  with  the 
study  of  the  calculus,  pointing  out  that  the  experiences  of  the  students  in  master- 
ing the  process  of  integration  may  serve  as  an  object-lesson  for  them  in  connection 
with  teaching  the  more  elementary  branches.  But  much  more  typical  of  the  general 
attitude  of  the  mathematics  instructors  toward  the  general  problem  are  the  follow- 
ing statements : 

"I  insist  upon  knowing*  the  subject.  Those  who  expect  to  teach  it  will  be  able 
to  develop  their  own  methods  of  doing  so."1' 

"  As  this  is  not  a  pedagogical  subject  no  direct  attention  is  given  to  the  peda- 
gogical side  of  the  subject." 

The  normal  schools  have  long  reproached  the  "  reactionary  colleges  and  universi- 
ties" for  this  attitude  and  deplored  it;  how  comes  it  here? 

(6)  PHYSICS  AKD  CHEMISTRY 

The  collegiate  offerings  in  physics  and  chemistry  in  the  three  schools  that  empha- 
size most  strongly  the  preparation  of  high  school  teachers  seem  on  the  whole  to  be 
well  selected.1  There  is  evidence,  however,  that  the  instructors  are  overloaded  with 
work,  and  this  evidence  was  borne  out  by  conferences  with  instructors  at  the  time  of 
the  visits  to  the  schools.  One  instructor,  for  example,  found  it  necessary  to  be  in 
classroom  or  laboratory  from  half-past  seven  in  the  morning  until  half-past  five  in 
the  evening,  and  to  give  his  evenings  and  Saturdays  very  largely  to  the  correction 
of  notebooks  and  reports.  This  instructor  teaches  during  forty-eight  weeks  of  the 
year.  The  collegiate  work  in  his  subject  (chemistry)  is  designed  to  prepare  teachers 
of  the  subject  in  high  schools,  and  to  give  the  essential  basis  in  chemistry  for  special 
teachers  and  supervisors  of  the  household  arts.  Only  five  high  schools  in  the  district 
served  by  this  normal  school,  outside  of  one  large  city,  offer  courses  in  chemistry, 
and  it  is  quite  unlikely  that  the  demand  for  teachers  of  household  arts  in  the  dis- 
trict will  require  more  than  four  or  five  supervisors  annually  for  many  years  to  come. 
A  situation  of  this  sort  illustrates  the  marked  unwisdom  of  a  policy  that  permits 
five  normal  schools  of  the  state  as  well  as  the  state  university  to  attempt  the  prepa- 
ration of  practically  all  types  of  high  school  teachers  and  special  supervisors.2 

The  instructors1  reports  suggest  that  the  work  in  the  physical  sciences  is  rather 
more  distinctly  pointed  toward  the  teaching  problem  than  is  the  case  in  the  depart- 
ments heretofore  discussed,  altho  the  pedagogical  element  is  usually  fastened  on  to 

1  See  page  408.          2  See  page  260. 


ACADEMIC  COURSES  :  BIOLOGY  239 

the  academic  instruction  rather  than  woven  into  it.  The  presence  in  the  same  classes 
of  students  with  different  objectives  is  undoubtedly  a  handicap  to  a  thoroughgoing 
professional  treatment,  as  is  indicated  by  the  following  comments  taken  from  the 
course  outlines: 

"In  the  course  in  general  chemistry,  we  cannot  confine  ourselves  to  the  inter- 
ests of  any  one  group.  Where  the  student  is  preparing  to  teach  chemistry,  we 
advise  with  him  as  to  the  type,  kind,  etc.,  of  materials  needed,  I  also  try  to  keep 
such  students  in  touch  with  the  best  literature  on  physical  science  teaching. 
(Course  in  General  Chemistry.} 

"No  attention  paid  to  this  [the  pedagogical  element]."  (Course in  Organic  Chem- 
istry ^  in  which  were  enrolled  at  the  time  the  report  was  given,  prospective  teach- 
ers of  chemistry,  general  science,  household  science,  agriculture,  and  mathe- 
matics.) 

Occasionally,  the  typical  university  point  of  view  crops  out  in  the  instructed 
comments;  for  example: 

".Difficulties  met  with  in  high  school  work  and  laboratory  methods  and  manage- 
ment are  discussed  incidentally,  but  our  main  effort  is  an  attempt  to  present  and 
thoroughly  acquaint  the  student  with  the  fundamental  principles  of  physics. 
We  work  on  the  assumption  that  the  student  will  be  able  to  work  out  the  details 
for  himself  if  the  principles  are  understood."  (Course  in  College  Physics.) 

(7)  BOTANY,  ZOOLOGY,  PHYSIOLOGY,  HYGIENE,  AND  SANITATION 

Whether  from  the  point  of  view  of  preparing  teachers  of  the  biological  sciences 
in  the  high  school,  and  teachers  of  physiology,  nature  study,  and  general  science  in 
the  elementary  school  and  junior  high  school,  or  from  the  point  of  view  of  laying  an 
adequate  foundation  in  biological  knowledge  for  the  study  of  psychology,  sociology, 
and  educational  theory,  the  offerings  and  equipment  of  the  Missouri  normal  schools 
are  notably  defective.1  At  the  time  that  the  present  study  was  made,  Kirksville  offered 
no  biological  courses  of  collegiate  character  except  five  semester  hours  of  bacteri- 
ology and  one  tennis  work  in  physiology.  Apparently  the  course  in  bacteriology  may 
be  taken  by  students  who  have  had  no  prerequisite  biological  work.  The  other  schools 
afford  much  better  balanced  biological  programs,  altho  the  offerings  are  less  numerous 
than  in  the  physical  sciences,  except  at  Springfield,  where  the  two  groups  are  equal. 

The  neglect  of  the  biological  sciences  is  the  more  difficult  to  understand  in  view 
of  the  liberal  offerings  in  chemistry  provided  by  four  of  the  schools.  The  biological 
sciences  appear  in  the  high  school  programs  somewhat  more  friequently  than  chemis- 
try, and  they  have  a  more  intimate  relation  -than  chemistry  to  the  nature  study  and 
geography  of  the  elementary  school,  to  physiology  and  hygiene,  and  to  the  general 
or  elementary  science  that  is  coming  to  find  a  place  in  junior  high  school  programs. 
From  every  point  of  view,  then,  it  would  seem  that  the  biological  sciences  should 
be  the  last  to  be  neglected  by  the  normal  schools. 

1  See  page  408. 


240  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

At  Kirksviile  seven  and  one-half  hours  of  physiology,  sanitation,  and  hygiene 
are  offered,  but  no  work  in  these  subjects  is  required  for  any  of  the  collegiate  de- 
grees or  diplomas,  Warrensburg  offers  five  hours  of  hygiene,  but  this  is  apparently 
not  required.  Maryville  requires  for  all  of  the  collegiate  diplomas  a  course  in  "  Home 
Economics  and  Sanitation."  Springfield  also  requires  two  and  one-half  semester 
hours  in  sanitation.  Cape  Girardeau  has  no  offerings  in  this  field. 

If  the  biological  courses  are  taught  differently  in  the  normal  schools  than  they 
are  in  institutions  of  general  education,  there  is  nothing  in  the  reports  of  the  instruc- 
tors to  show  it.  In  spite  of  the  almost  innumerable  points  at  which  a  knowledge  of 
biology  could  be  made  to  enrich  and  vivify  instruction  in  many  of  the  subjects  taught 
in  the  elementary  and  secondary  schools,  the  actual  organization  of  these  courses  in 
the  normal  schools  follows  very  closely  the  academic  or  "pure  science"  model.  The 
courses  in  hygiene  and  sanitation  reveal  somewhat  more  definitely  the  dominance  of 
a  professional  aim,  altho  even  here  the  adaptation  is  slight. 

(8)  GEOGRAPHY  AND  GEOLOGY 

In  view  of  the  emphasis  given  by  the  normal  schools  to  the  preparation  of  high  school 
teachers,  the  meagreness  of  the  offerings  in  geography  causes  no  surprise.1  Most  of  the 
collegiate  work  is  in  physiography,  and  here  Kirksviile  and  Maryville  offer  a  suffi- 
cient amount  of  work  to  equip  a  student  to  teach  physiography  as  a  minor  subject 
in  the  high  school.  The  course  at  Springfield  is  reported  by  the  instructor  to  be 
planned  definitely  as  "  a  basis  for  geography  teachers,"  only  a  few  of  whom  expect  to 
teach  physiography  in  the  high  school;  in  other  words,  the  course  is  organized  pri- 
marily for  prospective  elementary  teachers.  In  the  remaining  schools,  too,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  work  in  physiography  is  more  definitely  professionalized  than  are  the 
science  courses  previously  discussed.  At  the  same  time,  the  absence  of  courses  in  gen- 
eral geography  and  the  fact  that  none  of  the  schools  requires  a  course  in  this  subject 
in  any  of  the  collegiate  curricula  point  again  to  the  neglect  by  these  schools  of  the 
type  of  subject-matter  that  the  elementary  teacher  most  needs. 

(9)  AGRICULTURE 

The  normal  schools5  offerings  in  agriculture  on  the  collegiate  level  are  relatively 
numerous  at  Kirksviile,  — forty-five  semester  hours  in  the  aggregate,  in  addition 
to  one  secondary  unit.3  In  two  of  the  other  schools,  also,  a  substantial  number  of 
courses  are  offered.  It  would  undoubtedly  be  in  the  interests  both  of  efficiency  and 
economy  to  limit  the  preparation  of  high  school  teachers  of  agriculture  to  one  or  at 
most  two  of  the  normal  schools  and  the  College  of  Agriculture  at  the  university.  At 
the  present  time  two  institutions,  each  offering  a  good  curriculum  for  such  teachers, 
could  amply  meet  the  demands  of  the  state.  The  provision  of  elementary  courses  in 

1  See  page  408.          2  See  page  409. 


ACADEMIC  COURSES  :  AGRICULTURE 

agriculture  for  rural  school  teachers  should,  obviously,  be  made  in  all  institutions 
preparing  students  for  this  service. 

The  attitude  of  the  teachers  of  agriculture  toward  the  professional  problem  as  re- 
vealed on  their  outlines  is  interesting  in  that  it  is,  in  many  cases,  a  distinct  exception 
to  the  general  rule  that  instructors  in  the  "newer"  subjects  take  much  more  interest 
in  teaching  as  an  art  than  do  instructors  in  the  "traditional*"  subjects.  Some  of  the 
comments  on  the  outlines  are  indeed  illuminating;  they  are  reproduced  verbatim  et 
literatim  as  presented : 

"  The  students  in  this  course  are  usually  loaded  with  educational  pedagogy  at 
time  of  taking  this  course.  They  need  information  on  the  Gospel  of  agriculture. 
How  to  meet  the  patrons  of  their  communities  in  his  own  environments,  that  is, 
the  teacher  of  agriculture,  first  of  all  should  know  a  good  animal,  good  type  of 
plant,  a  well-prepared  seed  bed,  and  the  like.  [How  the  architect  of  this  sen- 
tence won  his  diploma  merits  a  special  investigation.] 

"  The  work  should  be  definite,  not  just  the  study  of  corn  as  an  assignment, 
but  make  definite  assignment,  as  Seed  Selection,  Storing  seed  corn,  corn  har- 
vesting machinery.  All  the  Practicums  which  is  the  major  part  of  the  course 
emphasize  I  Object — II  Procedure — III  Results — IV  Questions — and  V  Con- 
clusions." (Course  in  Crop  Production.) 

66 1  have  give  no  attention  to  the  pedagogical  side  of  the  work  more  than  to  point 
out  the  oportunities  that  the  rural  teacher  has  as  a  leader  in  the  social  activities 
of  his  district."  (Course  in  Rural  Economics.) 

"I  teach  as  I  was  taught  in  an  agricultural  college.  The  ability  to  do  rather  than 
to  teach  is  the  thing  stressed. 

"I  teach  as  though  every  student  was  going  to  start  a  garden  of  his  own  im- 
mediately. 

"  Owing  to  the  limited  amount  of  time  available  little  attention  is  given  to  the 
pedagogical  side  of  the  subject.  The  book  is  followed  rather  closely.  When  the 
opportunity  presents  itself  methods  of  teaching  are  given*"  (Course  in  Elemen- 
tary Agriculture.) 

The  above  excerpts  are  fairly  characteristic  of  seven  out  of  the  eight  instructors 
in  agriculture  who  submitted  reports  in  1915.  The  eighth,  however,  has  really  seen 
and  appreciated  the  problem  of  professionalizing  his  work : 

"  .  .  .  the  whole  trend  of  "the  course  is  influenced  by  the  fact  that  students  are 
to  be  teachers  of  the  subject.  I  give  a  very  few  lessons  which  are  specifically  ped- 
agogy of  the  subject.  However,  I  doubt  if  there  are  any  lessons  given  that  do 
not  have  some  of  this  element  in  it.  I  will  give  here  just  a  few  of  the  topics 
which  are  taken  up  'in  the  course  of  events.' 4  Why  agriculture  should  be  taught 
in  schools,'  'How  to  use  the  surrounding  farms  for  illustrative  materials,'  *  Types 
of  school  gardens  for  the  country  and  what  a  school  garden  is  supposed  to 
do,' 6  Apparatus  desirable  for  a  country  school,'  *  What  a  rural  teacher  can  do 
to  make  the  rural  boy  and  girl  realize  the  necessity  of  selecting  good  germi- 
nal seed,'  'How  to  teach  conservation  of  soil  fertility.'  Only  the  first  topic  has 
a  formal  place  in  the  course.  All  of  the  others  are  taken  up  incidentally  when 


ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

the  class  is  on  the  topics  in  question.  I  also  ask  quite  a  number  of  questions  in 
this  form :  What  questions  would  you  ask  a  farmer  if  one  whom  you  did  not 
know  well  should  ask  you  the  question — 'Would  it  pay  me  to  plow  my  soil 
deep?"  I  do  not  think  that  I  would  ask  so  many  questions  in  this  form  if  my 
students  were  not  to  be  teachers."  (Course  in  General  Agriculture.) 

(10)  FINE  ARTS 

The  variation  among  the  five  normal  schools  in  the  courses  offered  in  music,  draw- 
ing, painting,  and  similar  subjects  is  striking,1  and  again  suggests  the  importance  of 
designating  certain  single  institutions  as  training  schools  for  special  types  of  teachers.2 

As  in  most  of  the  "special"  subjects,  the  courses  in  graphic  art  show  a  commend- 
able adaptation  to  the  professional  needs  of  the  students,  in  that  emphasis  is  com- 
monly laid  upon  the  types  of  work  and  materials  that  are  available  for  art  instruction 
in  the  elementary  and  secondary  schools.  The  elective  system,  however,  leads  to  a 
mixture  of  students  that  cannot  fail  to  handicap  the  most  effective  teaching  of  the 
subject  for  professional  purposes.  Thus  in  the  spring  of  1915,  a  course  in  advanced 
drawing  at  Warrensburg  enrolled  prospective  kindergartners,  primary  teachers,  in- 
termediate and  upper  grade  teachers,  high  school  teachers  of  English,  history,  math- 
ematics, and  foreign  languages,  and  art  supervisors;  a  course  in  free-hand  drawing 
at  Kirksville  enrolled  prospective  kindergarten  and  primary  teachers,  intermediate 
and  upper  grade  teachers,  and  art  supervisors ;  a  course  at  Cape  Girardeau  in  design 
as  applied  to  basketry  enrolled  prospective  teachers  of  the  kindergarten  and  all  ele- 
mentary grades,  high  school  teachers  of  English  and  history,  and  supervisors  of  art, 
music,  and  manual  training.  If  the  training  of  special  art  teachers  and  supervisors 
were  limited  to  one  of  the  schools,  the  number  of  offerings  in  the  other  schools  could 
be  reduced,  as  has  been  suggested,  and  the  energies  of  the  instructors  could  then  be 
devoted  to  the  basic  courses,  differentiated  in  respect  to  the  type  of  work  (primary, 
intermediate,  upper  grade)  which  the  various  groups  of  students  have  in  view.  Brief, 
undifferentiated  courses  in  art  appreciation  and  the  history  of  art  should  also  find 
a  place  in  all  of  the  longer  curricula. 

In  music  it  would  be  advantageous  to  limit  the  advanced  courses  in  harmony,  couu- 
terpoint,  instrumentation,  and  orchestration  to  one  school  for  the  preparation  of 
supervisors  and  special  teachers.  In  the  schools  not  giving  such  advanced  curricula 
there  should  be  a  carefully  constructed  program  in  music  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
elementary  and  high  school  teachers.  Doubtless  there  will  need  to  be  some  differen- 
tiation in  this  program, — the  primary  and  kindergarten  teacher,  for  example,  should 
have  a  type  of  instruction  that  the  upper  grade  and  high  school  teachers  will  not 
require. 

In  addition  to  this  basic  work,  which  should  be  required  of  all,  individual  lessons 
in  voice,  piano,  violin,  and  perhaps  other  instruments  should  be  available  without 

1  See  page  409.  2  See  pagre  262. 


ACADEMIC  COURSES  :  COMMERCIAL  SUBJECTS 

fee  to  all  students  who  can  profit  by  such  instruction.  This  policy  is  clearly  in  har- 
mony with  the  professional  purpose  of  the  normal  school,  and  has  been  carried  into 
effect  at  Kirks ville  with  excellent  results.  If  the  unusual  interest  in  music  that  has  been 
developed  there  could  be  awakened  in  all  normal  schools,  it  would  be  greatly  to  the 
advantage  of  the  public  schools  throughout  the  state.  The  policy  of  paying  for  musical 
instruction  in  the  normal  schools  by  giving  teachers  of  music  the  privilege  of  taking 
private  pupils  should  be  abandoned. 

Perhaps  more  generally  than  in  other  subjects  do  the  teachers  of  music  in  the  nor- 
mal schools  utilize  the  learning  experiences  of  their  students  as  a  basis  for  ensur- 
ing pedagogical  skill,  and  this  seems  to  be  true  of  the  courses  in  appreciation  as  well 
as  of  the  courses  in  technique,  where  the  application  of  this  principle  is  probably  a 
simpler  matter.  The  following  reports  reveal  some  of  the  possibilities  that  have  been 
recognized  and  utilized: 

"Practically  all  pedagogy  (applied).  If  the  student  can't  sing  himself  he  must 
instruct  some  one  of  the  class  as  to  just  how  he  wants  the  work  sung.  He  must 
analyze  and  explain  the  poem.  In  fact  he  is  teaching  instead  of  reciting."  (Course 
in  Vocal  Forms.) 

"Pedagogy  enters  in  this  to  a  considerable  extent.  In  fact  the  course  must  be 
pedagogical  as  its  main  purpose  is  to  give  the  student  the  ability  to  create  a 
taste  for  music  thru  being  able  to  teach  the  higher  forms  and  make  them  under- 
stood by  the  average  listener.  Secondarily  no  one  will  orchestrate  a  work  well 
who  does  not  understand  form.  As  an  illustration :  The  student  is  placed  at  the 
piano  to  play  by  hand  or  by  mechanism  a  Chopin  Nocturne.  He  must  first 
explain  the  'form,'  not  to  the  teacher  but  to  the  class,  as  a  lecturer.  He  must 
then  play  it,  bringing  out  the  melody,  set  proper  tempo,  etc.  In  fact  he  must  do 
exactly  as  he  would  in  trying  to  make  a  group  of  boys  and  girls  or  men  and 
women  understand  and  appreciate  the  work.  In  orchestral  forms  he  must  take 
a  baton  and  direct  some  of  the  simpler  symphonies,  using  the  school  orches- 
tra as  an  experimental  body.  Every  director  is  necessarily  a  teacher.  Here  is  an 
excellent  opportunity  to  discover  whether  or  no  the  student  has  the  ability  to 
impart  his  knowledge  to  others.  [And  incidentally  to  find  out  if  he  has  any 
knowledge  to  impart.]"  (Course  in  Instrumental  Form.) 

(11)  COMMERCIAL  SUBJECTS 

There  is  a  demand  for  teachers  of  commercial  subjects  in  the  high  schools  of  Mis- 
souri, and  one  of  the  normal  schools  should  be  well  equipped  to  meet  it.  At  the  present 
time,  four  of  the  schools  — Kirksville,  Warrensburg,  Cape  Girardeau,  and  Mary  ville 
—  are  each  attempting  to  train  commercial  teachers,1  with  the  result  that  "the  work 
is  not  well  done  in  any  of  them.  Many  students  enroll  in  the  commercial  courses  who 
do  not  intend  to  teach  the  subjects.  In  one  of  the  schools,  for  example,  seventeen  stu- 
dents were  enrolled  in  four  courses  in  stenography  and  typewriting;  of  these,  eight 
definitely  stated  on  the  class  census  slips  that  they  did  not  intend  to  teach  at  all,  and 

1  See  pares  409,  410. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

of  the  remaining  nine,  only  one  acknowledged  an  ambition  to  become  a  commercial 
teacher.  In  the  spring  term  of  1915,  one  hundred  seven  students  were  enrolled  in  the 
commercial  courses  at  Cape  Girardeau, — apparently  a  normal  enrolment  for  the  de- 
partment. The  instructor  stated  in  conference  that  " about  three  or  four"  teachers 
of  commercial  subjects  were  among  the  graduates  of  the  last  graduating  class.  It  is 
clear,  then,  that  the  courses  are  attended  by  many  students  who  are  not  preparing 
to  teach  the  subjects,  and  without  doubt  by  a  goodly  number  who  are  not  prepar- 
ing to  teach  at  all.  The  presence  in  the  commercial  classes  of  these  students,  some  of 
whom  are  very  young,  is  a  misuse  of  the  normal  school,  and  cannot  fail  to  handicap 
the  instructors  in  their  efforts  to  prepare  commercial  teachers. 

At  Kirksville,  two  instructors  are  employed  for  commercial  subjects,  but  at  the 
other  schools  the  courses  in  bookkeeping,  shorthand,  and  typewriting  are  taught  by 
a  single  teacher, — and  this  teacher  not  infrequently  has  other  duties-  thrust  upon 
him.  At  Cape  Girardeau,  for  example,  in  the  spring  of  1915,  the  instructor  had  charge 
of  all  of  the  accounting  for  two  dormitories, — collecting  all  board  bills,  paying  for 
all  services  and  supplies,  and  ordering  supplies  and  equipment.  He  did  much  of  his 
ordering  in  August  and  September,  and  was  therefore  deprived  of  a  vacation.  All  of 
the  bookkeeping  and  correspondence  he  did  without  assistance,  except  for  the  type- 
writing that  he  could  delegate  to  his  classes  for  practice  purposes.  His  hours  at  school 
were  from  half-past  seven  in  the  morning  until  five  in  the  evening,  and  most  of  his 
clerical  work  was  necessarily  done  at  night. 

Under  the  circumstances,  there  is  naturally  little  effort  in  the  various  schools  to 
professionalize  the  commercial  courses  with  reference  to  the  teaching  problem.  One 
instructor,  when  asked  to  point  out  the  pedagogical  elements  in  a  course  in  type- 
writing, replied :  "  The  effect  of  the  will  and  mind  upon  the  action  of  the  fingers  in 
the  operation  of  the  machine" — whatever  this  may  mean.  Another  report  states  that 
about  one-tenth  of  the  time  in  a  course  in  bookkeeping  is  spent  in  discussing  "  how 
to  present  various  phases  of  the  subject,  etc.,  especially  the  theoretical  with  the  prac- 
tical." The  majority  of  the  reports,  however,  are  either  silent  as  to  the  pedagogical 
problem,  or  state  that  the  courses  are  organized  essentially  as  they  would  be  were  the 
students  not  planning  to  teach.  In  general,  the  work  did  not  show  marked  deviations 
from  what  one  might  find  in  the  commercial  classes  of  a  small  high  school  or  in  a 
business  college. 

Penmanship  appears  among  the  offerings  of  the  commercial  department  in  three 
of  the  schools,  but  it  is  noteworthy  that  in  only  two  of  the  schools  (Springfield  and 
Maryville)  is  there  a  definite  requirement  in  penmanship  in  the  one-year  and  two- 
year  collegiate  curricula.  It  would  seem  incumbent  upon  every  normal  school  to  re- 
quire instruction  and  drill  in  penmanship  and  in  blackboard  writing  until  each  stu- 
dent has  attained  to  a  satisfactory  standard  as  measured  by  one  of  the  handwriting 
scales. 


ACADEMIC  COURSES  :  HOME  ECONOMICS 

MANUAL  OR  INDUSTRIAL  ARTS 

Instructors  in  the  manual  and  industrial  arts  in  the  Missouri  normal  schools  have 
usually  to  supervise  practice  teaching  in  these  subjects  as  well  as  to  teach  the  normal 
school  students.  In  every  school,  therefore,  the  burden  upon  these  departments  is 
unusually  heavy.1  Under  these  conditions,  the  attempt  of  any  of  the  schools  to  pre- 
pare special  supervisors  of  manual  training  without  much  better  staffs  and  equipment 
than  are  now  provided  is  greatly  to  be  deplored.  Four  of  the  schools,  however,  are 
making  this  attempt,  and  in  at  least  three  of  these  the  type  of  handwork  in  which 
every  teacher  in  the  elementary  and  rural  schools  should  have  some  training  is  being 
seriously  neglected.  Springfield,  Cape  Girardeau,  and  Maryville  make  a  definite  re- 
quirement in  the  manual  and  industrial  arts  for  students  enrolled  in  the  one-year 
and  two-year  collegiate  curricula.  At  Springfield  the  energies  of  the  department  are 
given  to  these  non-specializing  students,  and  the  preparation  of  special  teachers  and 
supervisors  is  not  undertaken. 

In  the  two  schools  that  emphasize  the  training  of  special  teachers  and  supervisors, 
the  classes  are  not  limited  to  students  looking  forward  to  this  work;  one  instructor  re- 
ports explicitly  that  students  are  encouraged  to  take  the  work  for  purposes  other  than 
teaching.  Even  where  a  requirement  of  manual  arts  is  made,  any  one  of  a  number  of 
elective  courses  may  be  taken  to  meet  the  requirement.  In  other  words,  except  in  the 
case  of  primary  handwork,  there  seems  to  have  been  no  specific  effort  to  construct  a 
course  that  will  give  the  student,  who  is  not  planning  to  specialize  in  this  field,  just  the 
kind  of  training  that  will  help  him  most  in  his  work  as  a  grade  or  rural  school  teacher. 
The  instructor  in  charge  of  the  department  at  Springfield  is  the  only  one  who  reports 
that  he  makes  a  special  effort  to  adjust  his  courses  in  woodworking  to  this  group. 

(13)  HOME  ECONOMICS 

The  situation  in  respect  to  home  economics  is  somewhat  similar  to  that  in  the  in- 
dustrial arts.2  Relatively  few  special  teachers  and  supervisors  of  the  subject  are  re- 
quired; at  least,  the  demand  is  not  sufficient  to  justify  each  of  the  schools  in  offering 
a  large  number  of  courses  for  the  training  of  these  special  teachers.  Women  who  will 
teach  in  the  rural  schools,  on  the  other  hand,  will  find  it  advantageous  to  know  some- 
thing of  sewing,  nursing,  and  foods  and  cooking.  Neither  of  these  groups  seemed  to 
constitute  a  majority  of  those  who  were  enrolled  during  the  spring  of  1915  in  the 
courses  in  home  economics.  One-fourth  of  one  hundred  twenty-one  registrants  re- 
porting stated  that  they  did  not  intend  to  teach  at  all;  twenty-nine  per  cent  said 
that  they  were  planning  either  to  teach  high  school  subjects  other  than  home  eco- 
nomics or  to  take  graded  school  appointments;  slightly  smaller  than  the  latter  group 
was  that  which  comprised  the  students  distinctly  preparing  for  special  home  eco- 

1  See  page  410.  In  one  of  the  schools  in  the  spring  term  of  1915,  the  instructor  in  manual  arts  spent  six  periods  a  day 
with  normal  school  and  high  school  classes,  and  one  period  a  day  with  training-school  pupils.  He  also  reported  that 
he  was  teaching  two  classes  in  geography. 

2  See  page  410. 


246  ORGANIZATION  OF  CURRICULA 

nomics  teaching  and  supervision;  while  only  one-eighth  of  the  total  number  reported 
that  they  were  looking  toward  rural  school  service. 

It  may  be  safely  inferred,  then,  that  more  than  one-half  of  the  students  enrolled 
in  home  economics  courses  during  the  term  referred  to  were  not  taking  the  work  for 
teaching  purposes.  At  one  of  the  schools  (Springfield)  the  head  of  the  department 
said?  in  response  to  a  question  upon  this  point,  that  the  majority  of  the  students  were 
taking  the  courses  "for  the  work,"  altho  "some  are  preparing  to  teach  the  sub- 
ject." At  another  school,  the  instructor  in  sewing  reported  "a  good  deal  of  pressure 
to  make  the  classes  large,"  with  the  result  that  some  of  her  classes  enrolled  elemen- 
tary school  pupils,  normal  school  students  of  collegiate  grade,  and  married  women 
from  the  community,  all  working  together.  It  would  seem  most  desirable  to  provide 
separate  classes  for  those  who  are  undertaking  certain  elementary  courses  for  non-pro- 
fessional purposes,  and  both  to  restrict  the  advanced  classes  to  intending  specialists 
and  to  organize  the  work  of  these  courses  with  explicit  reference  to  their  professional 
purpose.  Certainly  one  of  the  schools  would  be  sufficient,  with  the  university,  to  meet 
the  demand  for  specialists*  The  remaining  schools  could  then  limit  their  courses,  staff, 
and  equipment  to  the  numbers  and  amount  needed  to  give  elementary  instruction 
to  the  normal  school  students  who  wish  to  carry  this  work  as  an  extra  study,  and  to 
provide  whatever  supervision  may  be  needed  in  the  training  schools. 


LIBRARY  ECONOMY 

Kirks  ville  requires  a  full  term  (five  hours  a  week)  of  library  economy  in  all  of  the 
collegiate  curricula.  When  this  course  was  visited  in  the  spring  term  of  1915,  the 
work  was  quite  technical  in  its  nature,  involving  familiarity  with  the  methods  of 
cataloguing,  and  including  training  in  the  preparation  of  catalogue  cards.  In  the 
later  announcements  of  courses  (1917),  the  work  seems  to  have  been  so  modified  that 
the  technical  features  are  covered  during  the  first  two  weeks  and  the  remainder  of 
the  term  is  given  to  the  study  of  children's  literature. 

In  the  other  schools,  instruction  in  the  use  of  the  library  is  commonly  provided 
for  more  or  less  incidentally,1  —  often  during  some  of  the  periods  set  apart  for  gen- 
eral assemblies.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  work  is  important  enough  to  merit 
a  separate  course  that  may  well  be  a  constant  in  all  curricula  and  given  soon  after 
the  student  enters  the  school.  The  equivalent  of  one  hour  a  week  for  a  term  should 
be  sufficient  for  this  purpose.  Students  who  are  planning  to  teach  English  or  history 
in  high  schools  may  be  expected  to  take  a  more  extended  course  which  will  prepare 
them  not  only  to  make  intelligent  assignments  for  the  library  work  of  their  pupils, 
but  also  to  take  charge  of  a  small  high  school  library,  or  to  act  as  assistants  to  the 
librarian  in  a  larger  school. 

Kirksville  and  Cape  Girardeau  offer  more  extended  courses  which  suggest  that 
they  have  in  mind  the  need  of  some  equipment  in  library  technique  upon  the  part 

1  See  page  410. 


QUALITY  OF  TEACHING 

of  certain  high  school  teachers.  The  seven  and  one-half  hours  offered  by  Kirksville 
(a  full  year's  work)  seem  excessive  for  the  purpose;  the  four  hours  provided  by 
Cape  Girardeau  will  probably  prove  to  be  as  much  time  as  a  teacher  whose  chief 
work  is  in  English  or  history  can  afford  to  give  to  library  technique, 

(15)  PHYSICAL  TRAINING* 

Work  in  physical  training  is  not  required  at  Kirksville,  altho  an  abundance  of 
elective  opportunities  are  offered.  At  Cape  Girardeau,  all  one-year  and  two-year  col- 
legiate curricula  must  be  accompanied  throughout  by  "physical  practice/'  and  for  this 
required  work  no  credit  is  granted.  At  Warrensburg,  "  all  students  are  required  to 
take  physical  training  three  hours  a  week  during  half  as  many  terms  as  they  are  en- 
rolled and  in  attendance," — a  requirement  that  must  be  rather  hard  to  "check."  At 
Springfield,  a  term's  course  in  physical  training  is  required  for  the  one-year  and  two- 
year  curricula.  At  Maryville,  the  requirement  is  two  and  one-half  semester  hours. 

In  view  of  the  basic  significance  of  physical  welfare  to  the  state  and  nation,  a 
larger  emphasis  on  physical  training  in  the  normal  schools  is  most  urgent.  Physical 
exercises,  involving  either  formal  work  or  active  participation  in  plays  and  games, 
should  be  a  part  of  each  student's  daily  program.  The  policy  of  satisfying  require- 
ments by  concentrating  physical  exercise  into  a  ternr's  course  seems  hardly  consistent 
with  the  twofold  purpose  of  this  important  work:  (1)  the  preservation  of  health  and 
the  formation  of  effective  health  habits  and  ideals  upon  the  part  of  the  student,  and 
(£)  the  preparation  of  every  prospective  teacher  to  participate  in  some  measure  in  the 
recreational  activities  of  his  pupils. 


C.  THE  QUALITY  OF  NOBMAL  SCHOOL  TEACHING  AS  AN  ELEMENT  IN  THE  CUBRICULUM 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  section  to  attempt  an  evaluation  of  the  teaching  in  the 
normal  schools  from  the  point  of  view  of  its  specific  efficiency  in  imparting  knowledge 
and  skill  to  students.  To  yield  satisfactory  conclusions,  such  aprocedure  would  involve 
not  only  an  elaborate  program  of  tests  and  examinations,  but  also  a  comparison  of 
the  results  with  norms  and  standards  that  are  not  as  yet  available  in  the  field  of  higher 
and  professional  education.  The  aim  in  the  present  discussion  is  rather  to  determine, 
if  possible,  the  extent  to  which  the  actual  class  work  of  these  schools  serves  the  stu- 
dent as  an  object  lesson  in  the  art  of  teaching.  In  the  preceding  sections,  each  sub- 
ject of  the  curriculum  has  been  examined  from  the  point  of  view  of  its  relation  to 
the  professional  purpose  of  the  school;  it  is  from  this  same  point  of  view  that  the 
teaching  will  be  discussed.  In  other  words,  quite  aside  from  the  content  of  instruc- 
tion, the  teaching  itself  may  be  looked  upon  as  an  essential,  possibly  the  essential,  part 
of  the  professional  curriculum. 

1  See  page  410. 


ELEMENTS  IN  THE  CURRICULUM 

THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTOR  PRIMARILY  A  TEACHEE 

The  policies  of  normal  school  administration  have  naturally  favored  the  selection 
of  teachers  of  marked  ability.  In  the  earlier  days3  these  teachers  were  often  recruited 
from  among  those  who  had  achieved  unusual  recognition  in  the  schools  of  the  sur- 
rounding territory.  More  recently  the  demand  for  higher  qualifications  in  scholarship 
has  shifted  the  source  of  supply  to  the  coUeges  and  universities,  but  the  appointees 
almost  invariably  have  had  a  period  of  successful  experience  in  elementary  or  high 
schools  preceding  their  graduate  study.  Occasionally  the  graduate  student  who  looks 
to  productive  scholarship  rather  than  to  teaching  for  his  real  career  accepts  a  normal 
school  appointment— perhaps  because  the  coveted  opportunity  to  enter  university 
work  is  not  presented;  but  if  such  a  person  remains  in  the  professional  school,  the 
pressure  of  the  heavy  program  of  teaching  and  the  general  absence  of  sympathy  for 
the  point  of  view  of  pure  research  usually  combine  either  to  transform  or  to  repress 
his  earlier  ambitions.  The  typical  normal  school  instructor  is  first  of  all  a  teacher,  and 
in  Missouri  he  is  not  infrequently  a  teacher  of  exceptional  talent  and  aptitude  for 
his  work. 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOL  TEACHING 

From  the  point  of  view  of  general  classroom  procedure,  the  teaching  with  which 
the  students  of  the  normal  school  come  into  contact  represents  the  kind  that  they 
will  be  expected  to  do  in  their  later  work,  especially  if  they  teach  in  the  upper  grades 
or  in  the  high  school.  The  "lecture  method,"  against  which  so  many  criticisms  of  col- 
lege teaching  have  been  leveled,  is  little  in  evidence  even  in  the  normal  schools  of  the 
collegiate  type.  In  fact,  the  infrequency  of  the  lecture  and  the  prevalence  of  the  class 
recitation  and  discussion  constitute  the  most  noticeable  distinction  between  these 
schools  and  the  liberal-arts  colleges. 

The  quality  of  the  teaching,  however,  is  far  from  uniform.  Excellent  teaching  and 
poor  teaching  may  be  found  in  each  of  the  normal  schools  and  training  schools.  There 
is  some  variation  as  to  departments :  in  the  visits  made  with  the  present  study  in  view, 
the  best  teaching  was  found  most  frequently  in  the  classes  in  history,  German,  Latin, 
English,  and  mathematics.  Poor  teaching  seemed  to  be  most  prevalent  in  agriculture, 
the^physical  and  biological  sciences,  and  education  (including  psychology),  altho  in 
each  of  these  departments  instances  of  really  superior  work  were  not  infrequently 
observed.  The  relatively  poor  showing  made  by  the  instructors  in  professional  subjects 
may  be  explained  in  part  by  the  still  unsatisfactory  organization  of  the  materials  in- 
cluded in  these  courses,  but  it  is  much  more  readily  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
the  normal  schools  have  selected  a  less  highly  educated  and  less  well-trained  group  of 
teachers  for  the  professional  courses  than  for  the  academic  courses.1  The  teachers  of 
agriculture  and  the  natural  sciences,  while  on  the  whole  as  well  educated  as  are  the 
teachers  of  language  and  history,  do  not  seem  to  represent  as  high  a  level  of  native 


1  See  page  283. 


QUALITY  OF  TEACHING  249 

ability, — due  perhaps  to  competition  from  other  fields  for  technically  trained  men.  It 
should  also  be  recognized  that  agriculture  is  not  yet  well  organized  for  teaching  pur- 
poses, and  that  the  teaching  of  the  physical  and  biological  sciences  is  regarded  not 
only  in  normal  schools  but  in  colleges  generally  as  less  satisfactory  than  the  teaching 
of  mathematics  and  the  humanities. 

The  varying  excellence  of  the  teachings  however.  Is  not  to  be  explained  entirely 
by  these  departmental  differences,  for  the  greatest  contrasts  will  be  found  side  by  side 
in  the  same  department.  The  unevenness  of  teaching  in  the  normal  schools  may  be 
traced  directly  to  the  same  causes  that  operate  widely  with  like  result  in  colleges  and 
secondary  schools.  Practically  all  such  institutions  compare  very  unfavorably  in  this  re- 
spect with  well-supervised  elementary  schools  where,  altho  the  teachers  are  commonly 
less  mature  and  always  less  well  educated,  the  uniformity  of  really  superior  teaching  is 
often  remarkable.  The  difference  is  due  both  to  the  better  professional  training  of  the 
elementary  teacher  and  to  the  factor  of  critical  supervision  that  forms  a  potent  stim- 
ulus to  the  acquisition  and  maintenance  of  a  high  level  of  teaching  skill.  Not  only  are 
the  teachers  of  the  secondary  and  higher  institution  largely  untrained  in  the  tech- 
nique of  teaching,  but  the  stimulus  of  supervision  is  completely  lacking.  The  tra- 
ditions of  higher  education  are  violently  opposed  to  classroom  visitation  and  criti- 
cism. The  notion  that  one  who  has  mastered  one's  subject-matter  is  thereby  qualified 
to  teach  it  leads  apparently  to  the  absurd  corollary  that  one  who  is  not  an  expert  in 
the  subject  is  disqualified  from  criticising  the  teaching.1  The  large  high  schools  in 
which  the  teachers  are  almost  exclusively  subject-matter  specialists  bred  to  the  uni- 
versity point  of  view  have  reflected  the  same  prejudice  against  supervision.  In  many 
of  the  normal  schools  the  same  general  attitude  prevails,  altho  very  greatly  tempered 
by  the  professional  character  of  the  work.  Presidents  and  principals,  too,  are  not  infre- 
quently loath  to  assume  the  responsibilities  of  classroom  supervision,  in  part  because 
they  do  not  wish  to  offend  their  teachers  or  to  seem  unduly  to  interfere  with  their  free- 
dom, in  part  from  lack  of  time  and  opportunity,  and  in  part,  also,  because  of  the  gen- 
eral feeling  that  one  who  lias  been  appointed  to  a  normal  school  instructorship  must 
be  ipso  facto  a  superior  teacher,  whose  need  for  direction  and  advice  has  passed  with 
his  apprentice  days. 

TEACHING  SHOULD  BE  EXEMPLARY 

It  would,  indeed,  be  unfortunate  if  normal  school  instructors  were  to  be  subjected 
to  petty,  narrow-minded,  faultfinding  criticism.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  need  for 
ensuring  a  much  higher  level  of  classroom  efficiency  than  is  now  to  be  found  in  these 
schools.  The  initial  skill  of  the  teachers  who  are  sent  out  from  the  normal  school  will 

1  This  attitude  is  well  illustrated  by  the  following  extract  from  the  report  of  the  Wisconsin  normal  school^  survey 
(1914);  the  words  are  those  of  an  instructor  reporting  upon  the  amount  and  kind  of  classroom  supervision  given  by 
the  president  of  the  school : 

"  .  . .  How  much  real  supervision  can  a  president  do  regarding  the  work  of  a  department  in  which  the  man  in 
charge  has  specialized  in  his  subjects  in  college  and  has  spent  three  to  four  years  in  further  postgraduate  study? 
The  president  can  only  at  best  have  a  general  knowledge  of  the  work."  (Page  129.) 


250  ELEMENTS  IN  THE  CURHICULUM 

depend  in  no  small  measure  upon  the  teaching  to  which  they  have  themselves  been  sub- 
jected.  It  is  true  that  the  demonstrations  of  good  class  work  in  the  laboratory  school 
are  intended  to  furnish  such  models.,  but  the  actual  teaching  in  the  normal  school 
classes  is  of  even  greater  significance.  The  instruction  in  these  classes  should  be  in- 
telligent and  spirited, — and  this,  generally  speaking,  it  is  in  the  Missouri  normal 
schools.  But  it  should  be  more  than  this :  technically  it  should  be  as  nearly  perfect  as 
it  can  be  made.  Fortunately  or  unfortunately,  it  is  the  externals  of  teaching  that  the 
student  will  most  frequently  tend  to  imitate;  the  stronger  and  more  vital  the  teach- 
ing, the  greater  the  likelihood  that  these  externals  will  be  reproduced.  Even  the  idio- 
syncrasies and  mannerisms  of  an  effective  teacher  are  more  likely  to  be  perpetuated 
in  the  initial  teaching  of  his  students  than  are  his  enthusiasm  and  the  spirit  of  his 
instruction.  If  the  technique  is  bad,  then,  even  tho  for  the  immediate  purposes  its  ills 
are  more  than  counterbalanced  by  its  vigor,  enthusiasm,  and  inspirational  force,  the 
effect  upon  the  prospective  teacher  is  unfortunate. 

Because  good  teaching  is  a  matter  primarily  of  knowledge  and  enthusiasm,  it  is  not 
to  be  inferred  that  its  external  character — its  form  as  contrasted  with  its  deeper  pur- 
pose— is  of  but  superficial  significance.  "Good  form"  in  teaching  bears  the  same  rela- 
tionship to  efficient  teaching  that  good  form  in  writing  bears  to  efficient  writing. 
Knowledge  and  enthusiasm  are  essential  in  either  case,  else  the  teaching  or  the  writ- 
ing will  be  empty  or  dead,  or  both.  Substance  and  vitality  are  of  course  to  be  chosen 
in  preference  to  form  alone,  if  all  three  cannot  be  had;  but  to  assume,  as  many  clitics 
of  "  pedagogy55  have  assumed,  that  one  who  chooses  substance  and  vitality  must  avoid 
good  form  and  vice  versa,  is  as  absurd  as  to  assume  that  good  English  can  be  spoken 
only  by  those  who  have  nothing  to  say,  or  that  vigorous  English  is  always  crude 
English. 

The  analogy  may  well  be  pushed  further.  Just  as  the  ability  to  use  language  in  good 
form  depends  largely  upon  the  measure  in  which  good  form  has  characterized  the  lan- 
guage that  one  has  most  frequently  listened  to  and  most  frequently  read,  so  the  abil- 
ity to  teach  effectively  and  with  distinction  will  depend  upon  the  measure  in  which 
good  form  has  characterized  the  teaching  to  which  one  has  been  accustomed. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  normal  schools  should  set  a  higher  premium  than 
they  now  do  upon  classroom  teaching  that  is  unimpeachable  from  the  point  of  view  of 
technique.  The  emphasis  that  normal  schools  formerly  laid  upon  this  factor  was  doubt- 
less misplaced,  not  because  technique  was  then  or  is  now  unimportant,  but  because 
suci.  emphasis  lacked  balance.  It  was  based  on  the  assumption  that  form  was  an  end 
in  itself,  and  it  was  certainly  accompanied  by  a  tendency  to  belittle  the  content  with 
which  it  dealt.  But  that  time  has  passed;  under  the  sting  of  criticism  from  the  col- 
leges and  the  universities,  the  normal  schools  of  to-day  are  not  infrequently  quite  as 
insistent  upon  the  priority  of  "scholarship"  and  quite  as  impatient  with  the  assump- 
tions of  "mere  method1'  as  are  their  academic  critics,  forgetting  that  this  view,  too, 
is  narrow  and  dogmatic  in  its  own  way.  The  form  of  teaching,  after  all,  is  an  impor- 


QUALITY  OF  TEACHING 

tant  and  usually  an  Indispensable  factor  In  the  efficiency  of  teaching,  and  the  artist's 
attitude  which,  far  from  neglecting  form,  seeks  to  master  it  and  to  make  It  render 
the  largest  possible  service,  is  as  important  in  teaching  as  It  is  in  painting,  sculpture, 
architecture,  writing,  and  acting. 

THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GOOD  TEACHING 

The  technical  elements  in  the  art  of  teaching  maybe  grouped  into  two  classes,  which 
may  be  termed  for  convenience  (1)  the  external  elements  of  skill  and  (2)  the  elements 
of  insight  and  resourcefulness.  The  former  are  by  far  the  simpler,  and  under  proper 
guidance  may  be  acquired  by  any  teacher.  They  can  be  most  easily  identified  in  a 
negative  way  by  such  common  classroom  errors  as  repeating  answers,  limiting  recita- 
tions to  responsive  members  of  the  class,  being  satisfied  with  "concert"  responses,  call- 
ing on  students  before  stating  the  question  to  be  answered  or  the  topic  to  be  discussed, 
failing  to  speak  distinctly,  to  write  clearly,  to  establish  a  systematic  and  habitual 
method  of  caring  for  routine  matters,  to  make  definite  assignments,  and  to  ensure 
throughout  the  recitation  the  active  effort  of  all  members  of  the  class.  Few  recitations 
are  free  from  all  of  these  defects,  and  In  the  normal  school  classes  observed  in  Mis- 
souri, they  were  certainly  less  frequently  noticed  than  they  would  have  been  in  a 
high  school  or  a  college.  They  were,  however,  much  more  prevalent  than  one  would 
expect  in  institutions  devoted  expressly  to  teaching  as  a  fine  art,  and  much  more 
prevalent  than  in  the  classrooms  of  a  well-supervised  system  of  graded  elementary 
schools.1 

We  are  speaking  here  of  defects  in  classroom  technique  that  would  seldom  occur 
if  good  habits  had  been  firmly  established  early  in  the  teacher's  career.  The  reason 
that  they  are  so  generally  characteristic  even  of  otherwise  superior  teachers  is  not 
that  these  teachers  are  ignorant  of  the  few  simple  rules  that  summarize  good  class- 
room procedure,  but  rather  that,  in  the  absence  of  supervision,  they  have  been  too 
little  impressed  with  their  responsibility  for  developing  habits  of  good  form  in  teach- 
ing. When  one  remembers  what  a  wide  difference  there  is  between  merely  understand- 
ing the  requirements  of  good  usage  in  spoken  language  and  the  habitual  recognition 

J  The  following  extract  from  a  verbatim  report  of  a  lesson  in  ancient  history  illustrates  in  an  exaggerated  form  some 
of  these  defects: 

Teacher:  The  Achaean  civilization  extends  down  to  when? 

Student:  1500  to  1200. 

Teacher:  1200;  right.  What  man  appears  before  the  close  of  this  period? 

Student:  Homer. 

Teacher:  What  did  the  Achaeans  bring  to  Greece? 

Student:  Iron. 

Teacher:  Iron;  that's  right. 

The  instructor  spends  a  few  minutes  in  discussing  the  significance  of  the  introduction  of  iron;  presently— 

Teacher:  Then  we  come  to  what  people? 

Student:  Dorians. 

Teacher:  Dorians;  yes.  What  part  of  Greece  was  settled  by  the  Dorians? 

Student:  Peloponnesus. 

Teacher:  Peloponnesus;  yes.  What  was  the  main  town? 

Student  (after  some  delay):  Athens. 

Teacher:  Athens ;  no. 

Student:  Sparta. 

Teacher:  Sparta ;  yes. 


ELEMENTS  IN  THE  CURRICULUM 

of  these  requirements  in  one's  own  speech,  it  is  readily  perceived  why  intelligent  and 
informed  teachers  often  break  the  simplest  rules  of  their  art.  Where  the  pressure  of 
responsibility  is  absent,  the  transformation  of  principles  and  precepts  into  well-estab- 
lished habits  is  almost  certain  to  be  slow  or  to  halt  completely. 

The  second  group  of  elements  comprising  the  art  of  teaching — the  elements  of 
insight  and  resourcefulness — are  obviously  more  important  than  the  external  ele- 
ments of  skill  Reference  is  here  made  to  such  factors  as  aptness  and  readiness  in 
illustration;  clearness  and  lucidity  in  explanation  and  exposition;  a  keen  sensitiveness 
to  evidences  of  misunderstanding  and  misinterpretation  upon  the  part  of  pupils  and 
students;  dexterity  and  alertness  in  devising  problems  and  framing  questions  that 
will  focus  the  attention  of  the  class  upon  just  the  right  points;  a  sense  of  humor  that 
will  relieve  tense  or  wearisome  situations;  the  intellectual  attitude  that  requires  of 
itself  a  reasoned  support  of  each  point  presented;  quickness  to  detect  inattention  and 
lack  of  aggressive  effort  upon  the  part  of  pupils  and  students;  a  sense  of  proportion 
that  ensures  the  emphasis  of  salient  topics,  and  distinguishes  between  the  fundamental 
and  the  accessory.  These  and  similar  qualities  or  abilities  play  an  all-important  role  in 
successful  teaching;  they  are  the  finer,  less  obvious  factors  in  "good  form;"  and  they 
differ  from  the  elements  of  skill  in  that  they  depend  upon  intelligent  adaptation  rather 
than  upon  habituated  processes.  They  mean  not  only  the  possession  of  resources  in  the 
way  of  knowledge,  not  only  an  understanding  of  child  nature  or  of  the  capacities  and 
interests  of  adolescents,  but  also  readiness  in  summoning  resources,  initiative  in  adapt- 
ing them  to  rapidly  changing  situations,  and  a  kind  of  rapport  with  one's  class  that 
strikes  very  much  deeper  than  a  mere  understanding  of  its  capacities  and  limitations. 

All  good  teachers  certainly  are  "born"  teachers  in  the  sense  that  their  native 
endowment  permits  the  development  of  these  and  similar  abilities.  Their  success  pre- 
supposes a  certain  native  "talent"  for  teaching,  just  as  success  in  any  of  the  fine  arts 
presupposes  certain  native  talents.  It  is  fair  to  assume  that  innate  talent  for  teach- 
ing, taken  in  this  sense,  is  much  more  widely  distributed  than  is  talent  for  music  or 
for  painting, — so  broad  and  comprehensive  is  the  field  of  teaching  and  so  signifi- 
cant to  human  evolution  has  been  the  guidance  of  the  immature.  Of  the  importance 
of  native  talent  there  can  be  no  doubt.  In  the  training  of  teachers  there  has  been 
a  tendency  to  go  to  one  extreme  or  the  other:  either  the  native  character  of  teaching 
talent  has  been  exalted  to  the  extent  of  assuming  that  training  is  useless,  or  the  sig- 
nificance of  native  talent  has  been  denied  to  the  point  of  asserting  that  the  art  of 
teaching  is  merely  a  matter  of  understanding  and  applying  certain  precepts  and  prin- 
ciples. The  rational  view  that  really  successful  teaching  must  rest  upon  a  foundation 
of  native  talent,  but  that  these  gifts  can  be  immeasurably  improved  by  training,  has 
been  slow  to  develop.  As  a  result,  one  finds  "born"  teachers  even  in  the  normal  schools 
quite  unconscious  of  the  refinements  that  are  possible  in  their  art.  Just  as  the  "born" 
painter  or  musician,  entirely  without  training,  may  do  work  that  shows  real  but  crude 
ability,  so  the  "born11  teacher,  likewise  untrained,  may  teach  with  undeniable  success, 


QUALITY  OF  TEACHING 

but  also  crudely — which  is  to  say  more  or  less  wastefully,  and  falling  far  short  of  a 
maximum  of  effectiveness. 

Because  of  the  lack  of  technical  criticism  already  noted,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
the  normal  school  teachers  as  a  group  are  stronger  in  those  elements  of  their  art  that 
depend  upon  insight  and  resourcefulness  than  they  are  in  what  we  have  termed  the 
elements  of  skill.  But  these  defects  in  technique  should  be  remedied,  in  order  that 
the  students  may  live  constantly  in  an  atmosphere  of  "good  form"  in  teaching.  Fur- 
thermore,, the  virtues  of  insight  and  resourcefulness,  by  as  much  as  they  are  more 
difficult  of  analysis,  should  be  made  the  objects  of  the  students'  conscious  attention 
and  study.  The  teacher  himself  is  the  laboratory  for  the  demonstration  of  these  qual- 
ities; they  are  less  likely  to  be  imitated  than  are  the  more  external  factors  of  good 
form,  and  unless  they  are  made  explicit  to  the  student,  the  school  fails  to  utilize 
resources  of  very  large  value  that  are  immediately  at  hand. 

UTILIZING-  GOOD  MODELS 

There  are  two  means  within  the  reach  of  every  normal  school  by  which  this  end 
may  be  sought.  In  the  first  place,  instructors  who  know  and  appreciate  each  other's 
work  can  do  much  by  calling  the  students"  attention  to  the  successful  qualities  of 
other  teachers.  For  example,  one  teacher  is  especially  skilful  in  utilizing  the  devel- 
opmental or  Socratic  method  of  teaching.  Ordinarily  the  students  will  like  his  work, 
but  they  do  not  always  know  why.  To  get  them  to  study  it  professionally —  to  watch 
the  lesson  evolve  under  the  master's  direction;  to  note  the  purpose  in  the  asking  of 
this,  that,  or  the  other  question;  to  see  why  this  illustration  is  adduced,  why  that 
suggestion  was  not  followed  up,  why  this  rather  than  the  other  topic  was  elaborated — 
will  mean  that  the  students  appreciation  will  be  keener  and  his  appropriation  more 
intelligent.  There  are  innumerable  opportunities  in  the  work  of  every  instructor  thus 
to  throw  into  relief  the  high  points  in  Ms  colleagues'  teaching — provided  that  he 
knows  it  well.  A  systematic  interchange  of  visits1  among  instructors  could  be  made 
gradually  to  lead  to  this  result,  and  to  render  the  added  service  of  promoting  the 
general  integration  of  all  of  the  school's  activities  by  securing  a  more  intimate  mutual 
understanding  among  all  members  of  the  staff. 

A  second  method  of  making  the  students  conscious  of  the  finer  points  in  the  art 
of  teaching  as  exemplified  by  their  instructors  is  to  adopt  the  plan,  reported  by  one 
of  the  Missouri  normal  school  teachers,  of  making  it  natural  and  customary  for  the 
students  at  the  close  of  the  hour  to  ask  for  the  justification  of  any  step  taken  by  the 
teacher  in  conducting  the  class.  The  careful  use  of  a  brief  period  at  the  close  of  the 
class  exercise  for  the  express  purpose  of  discussing  the  technique  of  the  lesson  would, 
we  believe,  exert  a  helpful  influence  upon  aU  concerned. 

1  Such  visits  have  been  repeatedly  recommended  and  urged  by  normal  school  presidents,  but  the  only  way  in  which 
to  ensure  them  is  to  make  them  a  part  of  the  stated  duties  of  the  instructor,— with  time  freely  granted  for  the  pur- 
pose. In  a  school  of  forty  or  fifty  instructors  it  should  not  be  impossible  for  each  one  to  see  the  classwork  of  each  of 
the  others  at  least  once  a  year. 


ELEMENTS  IN  THE  CURRICULUM 

The  discussion  of  insight  and  resourcefulness  as  elements  of  the  teacher's  art  has 
so  far  been  concerned  with  the  means  by  which  these  qualities,  as  exemplified  in  the 
work  of  the  normal  school  teachers,  could  be  made  objects  of  study  and  imitation 
by  normal  school  students.  There  is  another  problem  associated  with  these  factors 
that  merits  consideration.  An  instructor  who  has  an  unusual  measure  of  native  talent 
for  teaching  often  fails  to  grow,  and  the  problem  of  ensuring  his  progressive  develop- 
ment must  be  a  matter  of  concern  to  those  responsible  for  normal  school  efficiency. 
Not  every  teacher  can  attain  old  age  still  doing  his  work  with  all  of  the  enthusiasm 
of  youth  expressed  in  a  consummate  art  which  the  years  have  ripened  and  matured. 
Such  growth  is  undoubtedly  subject  to  natural  limitations  which  vary  widely  among 
individuals.  The  problem  is  to  ensure  that  each  individual  shall  approach  as  closely 
as  possible  to  the  maximum  of  his  capacity,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  conditions 
of  work  in  many  normal  schools  to-day  are  unfavorable  to  such  continued  growth. 
Some  of  these  conditions  are  discussed  elsewhere  in  this  report,1  but  there  are  certain 
suggestions  that  are  particularly  pertinent  here.  , 

STIMULATING  GOOD  TEACHING- 

In  the  first  place,  steady  and  continued  growth  in  power  to  teach  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected in  the  absence  of  recognition  and  appreciation  of  one's  work.  Under  pres- 
ent conditions  it  is  the  rare  exception  that  expertness  in  the  very  art  for  which  the 
normal  school  stands  earns  an  adequate  recognition  and  reward.  There  is,  indeed, 
no  system  by  which  unusually  effective  teaching  may  be  recognized  and  rewarded. 
Where  the  elective  system  prevails,  the  popularity  of  the  teacher  with  his  students 
and  his  ability  to  attract  large  numbers  to  his  courses  constitute  one  means  of  meas- 
uring his  efficiency,  but  it  may  be  a  most  deceptive  measure  in  that  it  constantly 
tempts  the  teacher  into  policies  and  practices  that  succeed  not  because  they  mean 
expert  teaching  but  because  they  employ  the  seductive  arts  of  flattery  or  the  tempt- 
ing bait  of  low  standards. 

In  the  second  place,  progressive  development  in  the  higher  qualifications  for  in- 
struction cannot  be  expected  from  teachers  whose  hours  of  stated  classroom  duties 
are  so  long  as  quite  to  preclude  the  preparation  necessary  for  first-class  work.  When 
a  teacher  must  teach  five  periods  a  day  for  five  days  in  the  week  and  for  forty-eight 
weeks  in  the  year,  his  only  hope  of  survival  lies  in  the  most  careful  husbanding  of 
his  own  energy.  The  hours  are  neither  long  nor  arduous  for  one  who  teaches  by  rou- 
tine, who  puts  just  as  little  of  himself  into  his  work  as  is  consistent  with  keeping  his 
class  from  drowsiness  or  disorder,  and  who  limits  his  daily  preparation  to  a  cursory 
glance  over  the  advance  lesson  to  make  certain  that  there  are  no  points  at  which 
he  can  be  caught.  Such  a  teacher  may  carry  twenty-five  or  even  thirty-five  hours  of 
class  work  each  week  throughout  forty-eight  weeks  of  the  year,  and  live  to  a  vigorous 

1  See  pages  276  ff. 


QUALITY  OF  TEACHING  S55 

old  age, — but  he  will  not  grow  perceptibly  during  all  these  years,  unless  it  be  in  his 
ability  to  do  his  work  on  a  minimal  expenditure  of  effort. 

Fortunately  for  the  normal  school,  this  type  of  teacher  is  in  the  minority  in  its 
classrooms.  Most  of  the  men  and  women  in  the  Missouri  schools  give  themselves  with- 
out reserve  to  their  work.  Many  of  them  take  the  true  artist's  view,  that  whatever 
one  attempts  to  do  must  be  done  just  as  well  as  it  can  be  done.  Each  recitation  hour 
saps  the  energy  of  such  teachers  and  the  close  of  the  day  finds  them  limp  and  ex- 
hausted. There  is  neither  time  nor  strength  for  the  preparation  that  they  should  give 
to  the  work  of  the  next  day,  — not  preparation  in  the  narrow  sense  of  reviewing  one's 
subject-matter  for  the  next  assignment,  but  preparation  in  the  broader  sense  of  search- 
ing diligently  for  new  light,  of  reorganizing  and  replanning  the  structure  of  one's 
teaching,  of  working  out  new  problems  and  providing  illustrations  that  will  appeal 
to  the  class  in  part,  at  least,  because  they  are  fresh  and  interesting  to  the  teacher 
himself.  This  preparation,  too,  should  not  encroach  upon  a  reasonable  margin  of 
leisure,  when  the  teacher  may  turn  Ms  mind  away  from  his  work,  and  seek  the  diver- 
sion of  entirely  different  activities,  or  when,  if  he  still  remains  close  to  his  daily  task, 
he  may  at  least  have  opportunities  to  occupy  himself  with  its  constructive  phases, 
making,  perhaps,  an  occasional  contribution  to  its  literature.  The  kind  of  growth  that 
the  normal  schools  should  stimulate  in  their  teachers  cannot  be  attained  upon  the 
basis  of  the  grueling  programs  that  most  normal  schools  demand  at  the  present  time. 

SOME  FORM  OF  EDUCATIONAL  CRITICISM  DESIRABLE 

Granted  both  a  more  reasonable  teaching  program  and  a  spirit  of  cooperation  upon 
the  part  of  the  teacher  that  will  make  an  interchange  of  visits  possible  and  profitable, 
there  is  still  need  in  the  normal  school  for  something  akin  to  classroom  supervision 
altho  it  could  hardly  be  called  by  this  name,  since  it  would  be  in  method  and  spirit 
something  quite  different  from  the  supervision  commonly  practised  in  the  elementary 
school.  Actual  supervision  and  inspection  in  the  narrower  sense  might,  indeed,  some- 
times be  justified  in  connection  with  the  work  of  the  younger  instructors,  but  the 
very  qualities  that  we  hope  will  come  to  characterize  the  mature  teacher — enthu- 
siasm and  capacity  for  continued  growth  —  presuppose  the  attitude  of  the  master 
rather  than  the  attitude  of  the  apprentice,  and  the  self-respect  that  is  inconsistent 
with  the  feeling  of  subservience  when  one  is  made  conscious  of  having  a  "superior," 
actual  or  assumed,  constantly  prying  into  the  details  of  one"*s  work. 

AH  "EDUCATIONAL  ADVISER" 

What  is  needed,  then,  is  not  the  "inspector"  or  "supervisor,"  but  a  colleague  for 
critical  tho  friendly  counsel;  the  term  "educational  adviser"  expresses  the  desired  re- 
lationship. Such  a  person  should  not  be  looked  upon  by  the  instructors  as  a  superior. 
It  would  be  his  duty  to  study  the  work  of  the  school  and  to  call  the  instructors  into 
conference  for  the  general  discussion  of  educational  problems;  individual  criticism 


256  ELEMENTS  IN  THE  CURRICULUM 

should  probably  be  given  only  on  the  invitation  of  the  teacher  himself.  Where  au- 
thority is  needed  to  carry  thru  some  desirable  reform  in  the  work  of  the  school,  it 
should  be  gained  by  faculty  action,  and  where  personal  discipline  is  necessary,  the 
administrative  authority  of  the  school  should  assume  the  duty. 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  the  functions  that  we  have  in  mind  for  the  adviser  cannot 
often  be  successfully  discharged  by  the  president  of  the  school.  The  president  is  neces- 
sarily in  a  position  of  administrative  authority  and  responsibility,  and  it  would  be 
difficult  for  him  or  for  the  teacher  to  forget  this  fact  in  the  essentially  cooperative 
work  contemplated  in  this  proposal.  Nor  is  it  in  any  way  derogatory  to  the  normal 
school  presidents  of  to-day  to  say  that  they  have  not  generally  been  selected  with 
reference  to  their  expertness  in  teaching  or  their  ability  to  advise  helpfully  with  re- 
gard to  classroom  problems.  Other  things  have  been  significant  in  determining  the 
qualifications  of  a  normal  school  president — ability  to  administer  the  financial  affairs 
of  the  school,  to  meet  legislators  and  win  support  for  appropriations,  to  make  ad- 
dresses and  otherwise  represent  the  school  acceptably  before  the  public.  All  of  these 
qualities  are  important,  but  they  do  not  always  go  with  the  ability  to  undertake  the 
delicate  task  of  helping  a  group  of  specialized  and  highly  sensitive  teachers  in  the 
intimate  problems  of  their  daily  work. 

The  right  type  of  person  could  render  an  important  service  in  this  position  of  edu- 
cational adviser.  He  could  bring  to  each  instructor  the  pertinent  contributions  that 
his  colleagues  were  making  in  the  solution  of  similar  problems,  acting  as  a  sort  of 
clearing  house  for  teaching  experience.  He  could  direct  the  interchange  of  visits  sug- 
gested in  a  preceding  paragraph.  He  could  arrange  for  conferences  and  discussions 
upon  the  various  phases  of  teaching.  Further  than  this,  he  could  do  much  to  ensure  a 
thoroughgoing  coordination  of  all  of  the  courses  with  a  view  to  the  professional  goal. 
It  would  be  an  important  part  of  his  business  to  envisage  the  training  process  as  a 
whole,  and  to  make  certain  that  each  unit  was  fulfilling  its  function  in  the  work  of  the 
organism.  To  this  end,  he  should  know  what  account  the  graduates  of  the  school  are 
giving  of  their  training,  and  a  part  of  his  time  each  year  should  be  spent  in  this  fol- 
low-up work.  To  expect  each  of  the  instructors  to  visit  the  schools  where  their  gradu- 
ates are  teaching  is  out  of  the  question,  but  the  educational  adviser  could  visit  sys- 
tematically and  bring  back  to  the  instructors  detailed  reports  of  the  points  at  which 
the  training  had  been  defective. 

The  success  of  the  function  above  described  would  depend  upon  the  wisdom,  tact, 
and  sympathetic  attitude  of  the  person  engaged.  Superior  workers  in  every  form  of 
achievement  know  well  the  value  of  candid,  intelligent  criticism  of  their  productions. 
The  better  work  they  do,  the  more  they  appreciate  the  judgment  of  keen  observers 
who  may  perhaps  be  less  competent  than  they  in  the  particular  field,  but  who  for  the 
time  being  see  more  elements  bearing  on  the  situation  than  can  he  who  is  absorbed  in 
his  production.  Add  to  the  qualification  of  general  fitness  a  professional  familiarity 
with  education  as  a  whole,  a  tested  experience,  drawn  from  many  subjects  and  types 


QUALITY  OP  TEACHING-  S57 

of  activity,  of  how  knowledge  and  habits  best  get  into  students*  minds,  and  our  critic 
becomes  an  invaluable  asset  to  the  school.  Sincere  teachers  crave  such  help,  and  an 
acute  and  well-informed  student  of  education,  possessing-  the  personal  gift  of  winning 
confidence,  would  speedily  make  himself  indispensable  as  an  adviser  in  a  group  even 
of  the  best  trained  minds. 

OTHER  SOLUTIONS 

If  it  is  impracticable  to  secure  the  services  of  such  an  adviser,  much  could  probably 
be  done  by  joint  action.  A  small  committee,  comprising  perhaps  three  of  the  strongest 
and  preferably  the  older  teachers,  could  be  chosen  in  rotation  by  the  faculty  itself  to 
undertake  this  work.  This  plan  would  have  the  advantage  of  ensuring  from  the  out- 
set the  cooperation  of  the  teachers  in  the  enterprise,  and  if  the  teaching  programs  of 
the  members  of  the  committee  could  be  reduced  in  proportion  to  the  time  spent  in 
visitation  and  consultation,  good  results  would  doubtless  follow  from  an  adoption  of 
the  plan. 

Another  possible  solution  of  the  problem  has  been  attempted  in  a  few  of  the  normal 
schools.  The  director  of  the  training  department  is  delegated  by  the  president  to  su- 
pervise the  instruction  of  the  normal  school  teachers.  This  plan  will  doubtless  work 
satisfactorily  under  certain  conditions,  but  as  a  general  procedure  it  has  obvious 
defects.  The  director  of  the  training  department  is  likely  to  have  more  than  enough 
to  do  in  looking  after  the  work  of  the  practice  teachers  in  the  training  school.  Even 
if  he  can  spare  the  time  for  classroom  visitation,  the  advisability  of  placing  the  su- 
pervision of  the  instructors  and  that  of  the  student- teachers  in  the  same  hand  is 
seriously  to  be  questioned. 

The  general  provisions  for  self-scrutiny  suggested  in  the  preceding  paragraphs 
should  not  preclude  similar  activity  within  departments.  Members  of  the  English  staff, 
for  example,  should  constitute  a  committee  for  the  coordination  of  all  English  courses. 
The  tendency  of  the  individual  instructor  to  get  into  a  rut  in  his  teaching  can  be  suc- 
cessfully counteracted  in  no  more  certain  way  than  by  subjecting  his  material  to  at 
least  an  annual  overhauling  under  the  critical  eyes  of  his  colleagues.  Normal  schools 
generally  are  weak  in  departmental  organization ;  the  principle  of  departmental  re- 
sponsibility which  means  so  much  to  the  initiative  and  efficiency  of  the  individual 
teacher  should  be  much  more  clearly  recognized.  With  the  provisions  for  the  general 
supervision  and  coordination  of  the  class  work  which  have  been  suggested  above,  the 
dangers  that  might  otherwise  inhere  In  too  large  a  measure  of  departmental  auton- 
omy may  be  greatly  reduced. 


258  SELECTION  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  CURRICULA 

D.  SELECTION  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  CURRICULA 

1.  The  Present  Situation 

The  object  of  sound  administration  of  a  curriculum  for  the  preparation  of  teach- 
ers, as  for  any  other  professional  purpose,  is  to  put  as  many  individuals  as  are  needed 
in  possession  of  the  best  available  information  and  skill  suited  to  their  purpose  with 
the  smallest  reasonable  outlay  of  time  and  money.  Granted  an  adequate  staff  and 
equipment,  and  such  a  selection  of  courses  as  shall  furnish  the  "available  informa- 
tion and  skill,"  the  problem  is  reduced  to  the  creation  of  such  an  operating  program 
as  shall  utilize  staff  and  equipment  most  completely  to  meet  the  known  numerical 
requirements  of  the  schools  of  the  state. 

RELATIVE  USE  MADE  OF  COLLEGIATE  INSTRUCTORS 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  teaching  staffs  of  the  various  schools  are  at  present 
worked  quite  beyond  an  advisable  limit,  considering  the  quality  of  service  they  are 
expected  to  perform.  This  appears  plainly  in  the  overburdening  of  teachers  with 
classes,  as  set  forth  in  another  section.1  Another  phase  of  the  situation,  and  one  merit- 
ing equal  attention,  is  the  extent  to  which  the  work  of  teachers  is  being  utilized.  Cer- 
tain inferences  on  this  point  may  be  drawn  from  an  inspection  of  class  membership.2 

The  proportion  of  all  collegiate  classes  in  which  the  membership  falls  below  ten 
during  the  regular  session  in  the  year  cited  is  thirty-six  per  cent.  Only  four  depart- 
ments show  a  membership  of  ten  or  more  in  two-thirds  of  their  classes.  Ten  per  cent 
of  all  collegiate  classes  have  from  one  to  four  members.  Whatever  the  cause  of  this, 
it  is  obvious  that  the  schools  are  at  present  utilizing  far  less  than  half  of  their  avail- 
able teaching  resources.  Thirty  is  a  standard  maximum  for  collegiate  classes,  where 
recitation  and  discussion  methods  are  followed,  as  is  the  case  in  the  great  majority 
of  normal  school  classes.  Laboratory  groups  may  be  half  this  number;  lecture  sections 
need  of  course  be  limited  only  by  the  size  of  the  room  and  the  number  of  windows 
and  ventilators.  To  spend  the  efforts  of  expert  teachers  on  changing  groups  of  five, 
eight,  or  even  twelve  students  is  plainly  a  waste  of  great  seriousness  which  should  be 
avoided  if  possible.  The  appropriations  for  preparing  teachers  are  too  pitifully  small 
as  it  is,  to  justify  indulgence  in  any  unnecessary  expenditure. 

CAUSES  OF  WASTE  :  DUPLICATION  OF  CLASSES 

The  reasons  for  the  present  conditions  are  entirely  clear.  They  are  mainly  three. 
In  the  first  place,  courses  are  duplicated  from  term  to  term  to  meet  what  are  deemed 
to  be  the  exigencies  of  normal  school  attendance.  Faithful  to  early  tradition,  the 
schools  have  been  unwilling  to  shape  their  work  either  for  all  or  for  any  exclusive 
portion  of  their  students  in  such  a  way  as  to  require  regular  and  continuous  attend- 
ance. In  its  desire  for  a  large  enrolment  each  school  has  catered  to  the  immediate  con- 

1  See  pag-e  108.  3  See  pages  486, 437. 


PRESENT  SITUATION  259 

venience  of  the  student,  tho  there  are  probably  few  students  who  could  not  arrange 
with  careful  management  to  do  continuous  work,  even  if  at  longer  intervals.1  A  care- 
ful examination  of  the  offerings  of  the  schools  for  1915—16  shows  that,  in  the  regular 
session  alone,  a  total  of  ninety-six,  or  twelve  per  cent  of  all  the  collegiate  classes  con- 
ducted in  that  session,  apparently  duplicated  other  courses,  and  could  have  been 
consolidated  with  similar  classes  in  other  terms  of  the  regular  session  without  thereby 
creating  sections  too  large  for  convenient  handling.  The  actual  money  saving  effected 
thereby  would  have  amounted  to  nearly  ten  thousand  dollars.  The  schools  vary  con- 
siderably among  themselves  in  the  extent  of  this  practice;  Cape  Girardeau  has  elimi- 
nated it  almost  entirely. 

Concrete  illustrations  are  as  follows:  Kirks ville  gives  a  course  in  "Farm  Machinery1' 
to  five  students  in  the  fall,  and  again  to  fourteen  in  the  winter  term;  "Plant  Physi- 
ology" to  nine  in  the  fall,  and  again  to  six  in  the  winter  at  an  extra  cost  of  $145; 
"Photography"  to  eight  in  the  fall,  two  in  the  winter,  and  eight  in  the  spring — an 
unnecessary  outlay  of  $S40.  Warrensburg  provides  the  "  History  of  Mathematics"  for 
four  students  in  the  fall,  and  again  in  the  spring  for  nine  at  an  extra  cost  of  SI 50; 
"Principles  of  Criticism"  for  seven  students,  and  later  for  five  at  the  same  figure; 
"Poultry  Raising"  for  nine,  ten,  and  eleven  students,  respectively,  at  a  cost  of  SS£T 
instead  of  $109  for  thirty  students  at  one  time. 

The  illustrations  above  are  drawn  from  collegiate  classes  only,  since  these  are  the 
smallest  and  therefore  most  expensive.  Secondary  classes  are  repeated  to  a  still  greater 
extent,  but  with  less  financial  loss,  as  the  classes  are  generally  full.  The  bad  effect  in 
these  cases  is  the  less  striking  one  of  arbitrary,  incoherent  election.  Even  students 
continuously  in  attendance,  instead  of  taking  the  course  when  it  would  logically  do 
them  the  greatest  service  as  an  organic  development  of  their  curriculum,  wait  until 
it  comes  around  at  a  convenient  hour,  or  until  certain  friends  take  it,  or  until  it  may 
be  given  by  a  certain  teacher — a  form  of  "adjustment  to  the  individual"  that  is 
of  questionable  value, 

AN  EXTRAVAGANT  ELECTIVE  SYSTEM 

The  second  reason  for  multiplying  small  classes  inheres  in  the  unwarranted  inter- 
pretation of  the  whole  elective  system  as  applied  to  the  training  of  teachers,  and 
the  notion  that  being  a  college,  even  a  teachers  college,  involves  the  same  varied  and 
comprehensive  educational  bill  of  fare  that  colleges  usually  present  (too  often  only  in 
their  catalogues).  The  merits  of  this  question  have  been  fully  set  forth  and  discussed 
in  another  section,  where  the  normal  school  offerings  in  each  department  have  been 
shown.2  The  summary  of  the  collegiate  offerings  there  given  furnishes  the  best  of  evi- 
dence in  the  present  argument. 

It  will  be  apparent  that  in  the  effort  to  conduct  so  varied  a  program  the  schools 
cannot  escape  the  conditions  indicated  above.  At  many  points  the  proposals  are 

1  See  pages  301  ff.          *  See  pages  228  ff.  For  summary,  see  table,  page  411. 


260  SELECTION  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  CURRICULA 

manifestly  absurd,  as  where  Cape  Girardeau  records  ninety-one  semester  hours  of 
ancient  languages  to  be  given  by  one  instructor;  such  impossible  pretensions  are 
inexcusable  and  go  far  to  discredit  the  academic  good  faith  of  the  institution  mak- 
ing them.  Even  considering  only  what  the  schools  are  actually  able  to  offer,  all  would 
have  to  combine  in  one  institution  to  make  such  an  elaborated  scheme  economically 
workable,  and  such  an  institution  exists  already  in  the  state  university.  For  the  lat- 
ter, there  is  reason  in  an  extended  program  which  involves  many  small  classes,  for  it 
is  the  one  central  feeder  for  a  great  variety  of  professions  and  educational  demands; 
but  the  normal  school  has  a  single,  straightforward  aim,  and  out  of  a  dozen  courses 
needs  but  the  one  course  best  fitted  for  its  purpose.  Moreover,  when  courses  multiply  in 
such  luxuriance,  the  real  good  of  the  student  is  bound  to  suffer.  A  prospective  teacher 
of  high  school  history  could  profitably  take  perhaps  thirty  hours  of  history  in  a  four 
years  course.  The  history  he  must  have  includes  elementary  courses  required  also  of 
those  not  intending  to  teach  history.  If  he  receives  in  thirty  hours  the  best  possible 
preparation  for  teaching  high  school  history,  there  is  certainly  every  reason  for  giv- 
ing each  student  with  the  same  destination  as  good  a  preparation.  To  focus  the  nor- 
mal school  teacher's  attention  on  this — the  intensive  appropriateness  of  his  curricu- 
lum for  his  students'  future  work — is  to 'serve  the  student  and  the  public;  it  is  also 
to  use  the  teacher  most  economically,  for  all  courses  apply  then  equally  to  all  stu- 
dents following  the  same  curriculum.  From  the  point  of  view  of  sound  professional 
education  as  well  as  of  financial  economy,  there  can  hardly  be  a  rational  defence  for 
the  existing  elective  system  of  the  normal  school  except  as  the  school  proposes  to 
weaken  its  distinctly  teacher-training  function  and  become  a  "general"  college.1 

LACK  OF  INTERCOLLEGIATE  DIFFERENTIATION 

The  third  factor  that  operates  to  make  an  economical  administration  of  the  cur- 
riculum impossible  is  yet  more  fundamental  than  either  of  the  two  preceding.  The 
genius  that  has  presided  over  the  development  of  the  Missouri  training  agencies 
has  apparently  ignored  the  far-reaching  benefit  that  would  accrue  to  the  state  thru 
having  the  institutions  of  one  section  serve  the  people  in  another;  not  to  speak  of  the 
money  saving  to  be  effected  thereby.  Each  school  is  now  as  self-contained  as  tho  there 
were  no  other  similar  institution  within  the  state,  and  with  independent  boards, 
strong  local  feeling,  and  no  real  interest  in  the  problem  on  the  part  of  some  intelli- 
gent central  authority,  the  case  could  scarcely  be  otherwise. 

Here  is  the  situation.  Rural  and  graded  elementary  school  teachers  of  all  types  are 
needed  in  fairly  constant  numbers  in  all  parts  of  the  state.  These  it  is,  of  course,  the 

1  The  institution  at  Cape  Girardeau  has  avowedly  taken  just  this  step.  It  is  a  principle  of  the  school  that  there  is 
no  fixed  minimum  for  class  membership ;  that  the  teachers  will  do  everything  for  a  single  student  who  desires  a 
course.  We  find,  therefore,  cases  like  the  following::  A  twelve  weeks  class  in  Caesar,  two  students,  at  an  expense  of 
$42  each ;  in  Ethics,  two  students,  $35  each ;  in  Analytic  Geometry,  two  students,  $36  each;  in  Bacteriology,  two  stu- 
dents, $64  each ;  in  Spanish,  one  student,  5$68 ;  while  students  in  classes  of  reasonable  size  are  receiving:  their  instruc- 
tion from  one  of  the  best-paid  teachers  in  the  school  for  $5  or  $6  per  term.  It  is  noticeable,  however,  that  these  smallest 
classes,  usually  the  most  advanced,  do  not  in  general  receive  the  best-paid  instruction ;  that  is  too  expensive  even 
for  Cape  Girardeau, 


PRESENT  SITUATION  861 

primary  duty  of  each  normal  school,,  so  far  as  possible,  to  supply.  As  shown  elsewhere, 
however,  the  public  schools  annually  draw  large  numbers  of  high  school  teachers  of 
various  subjects,  some  directly  from  the  elementary  grades  below  them,1  some  from  the 
normal  schools,  some  from  the  university,  and  some  from  outside  the  state.  As  more 
and  more  specific  training  has  been  made  available  and  necessary  for  these  various 
specialized  types  of  secondary  instructor,  it  has  been  tacitly  assumed  by  the  normal 
schools  and  admitted  by  the  state  that  each  institution  was  to  expand  its  facilities  for 
all  the  types  of  training  that  any  other  institution  offered.  This  has  been  a  matter  not 
of  demonstrated  need,  but  strictly  of  sectional  pride;  it  was  felt  to  be  unfair  for  one 
institution  to  present  more,  or  more  varied,  courses  than  another.  Thus  special  equip- 
ment has  been  acquired  by  all  the  schools  for  collegiate  work  in  the  industrial  arts, 
in  fine  arts,  in  household  arts,  and  particularly  in  agriculture.  When  once  these  de- 
partments have  been  installed,  the  way  is  open  for  their  development  to  any  extent 
for  which  funds  can  be  secured  from  the  legislature,  unless  a  fixed  policy  of  joint 
administration  is  determined  upon. 

Against  any  considerable  development  of  these  and  certain  other  departments, 
however,  the  economic  situation  has  erected  an  effective  barrier.  Students  in  any  num- 
bers hesitate  to  undertake  long  training  for  positions  as  agricultural  supervisors,  for 
example,  when  there  may  be  fewer  than  half  a  dozen  such  openings  in  the  state  each 
year;  and  for  the  same  reason  schools  scarcely  feel  at  liberty  to  urge  students  into 
such  courses,  unless,  indeed,  as  has  here  and  there  occurred,  they  forsake  their  exclu- 
sive purpose  of  teacher-training  and,  in  order  to  enlarge  the  department,  throw  ii  open 
to  all  who  for  any  reason  desire  to  study  agriculture.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  after  the 
elementary  courses,  which  may  be  desirable  for  all  teachers,  have  been  provided,  there 
is  not  in  all  Missouri  a  demand  more  than  sufficient  to  exhaust  the  product  of  one 
good  normal  school  in  these  various  branches ;  to  maintain  five  at  the  present  expense 
is  extravagant  and  leads  to  the  conditions  already  noted —  few  students,  small  classes, 
many  omitted  courses,  partly  utilized  teachers,  and,  in  general,  nerveless  and  fleshless 
departments. 

CONCENTRATION  OF  ADVANCED  CURRICULA  IN  LATIN 

For  example,  teachers  of  Latin  and  Greek  could  be  trained  far  better  and  certainly 
at  much  less  expense  if  the  advanced  work  in  those  subjects  were  given  only  at  Spring- 
field, where  it  is  at  present  best  developed.  When  this  department  was  visited  at  Kirks- 
ville,  two  classes  were  found  reproducing  rural  school  conditions  in  that  the  two  stu- 
dents in  one  class  recited  while  the  one  student  in  the  other  was  at  the  blackboard;  then 
they  turned  about.  At  Maryville,  of  two  students  enrolled  in  a  Cicero  class  one  had 
dropped  out;  in  the  Vergil  class  a  single  student  was  preparing  to  go  to  the  university. 
At  Cape  Girardeau,  a  class  of  eight  in  beginning  Greek  had  been  collected.  It  was  said 
to  be  the  first  Greek  class  in  six  years.  The  next  year  it  had  disappeared  entirely 

1  This  source  is  now  nearly  closed,  owing  to  rulings  of  the  state  department  requiring  specific  preparation. 


SELECTION  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  CURRICULA 

and  no  Greek  whatever  was  taught,  with  the  result  that  this  first  year's  work  was 
probably  almost  a  total  waste  of  time  to  these  eight  students  in  so  far  as  their  training 
at  Cape  Girardeau  as  teachers  of  Greek  was  concerned. 

The  total  cost  of  all  collegiate1  instruction  in  Latin  and  Greek  for  1915-16  in  the 
five  schools  was  $8514.  The  instructors  received  an  average  of  $1676  each ;  two  hun- 
dred forty-six  collegiate  grades  were  recorded  in  forty  classes  averaging  six  students 
each.2  The  college  work  given  covered  three  years  at  four  schools  and  one-third  of  a 
year  at  the  fifth,  Mary  ville.  Had  this  work  been  concentrated  in  a  well-organized  three- 
year  college  curriculum  at  one  school,  it  could  have  been  done  in  nine  classes  averaging 
twenty-seven  students  each,  and  would  have  required,  in  the  three  terms  of  the  reg- 
ular session,  but  one  teacher  working  at  a  weekly  maximum  of  fifteen  hours,  instead 
of  six  teachers  working  twenty,  twenty-five,  and  thirty  hours  as  at  present.  This 
teacher  could  have  been  paid  $8500  instead  of  $1676,  and  could  have  had  the  summer 
free.  Or  the  same  work  could  have  been  done  in  eighteen  classes  of  fourteen  students 
each,  covering  the  four  terms  of  the  year  as  now;  this  would  have  required  the  time 
of  one  instructor  teaching  fifteen  hours  weekly  and  half  the  time  of  another,  and  they 
could  have  been  paid  at  the  rate  of  $2368  per  year.3  In  either  case  the  total  result 
would  have  been  far  better  aside  from  the  improvement  in  classes,  hours,  and  salaries. 
A  department  of  this  kind  would  have  no  apologies  to  make  to  any  college  or  uni- 
versity; it  would  be  a  going  concern  commanding  the  respect  of  superintendents 
everywhere. 

CONCENTRATION  OF  ALL  HIGH  SCHOOL  CURRICULA 

The  situation  with  respect  to  Latin  applies  in  some  degree  to  practically  all  high 
school  subjects.  Every  teacher  needs  some  history,  but  a  specialist's  curriculum  in  his- 
tory need  not  be  provided  at  each  of  the  five  schools*  Besides,  but  few  normal-trained 
teachers  in  the  state  teach  high  school  history  alone,  and  that  usually  after  years  of 
experience  and  promotion.4  Schools  that  prepare  high  school  teachers  of  history  must, 
therefore,  count  on  giving  preparation  in  at  least  two  subjects  to  each  candidate.  Were 
the  schools  to  pool  their  resources  and  each  accept  certain  subjects  or  combinations 
of  subjects  for  special  emphasis,  the  need  would  be  well  and  amply  met.  On  this  basis 
we  would  have  schools  A  and  B  preparing  all  types  of  elementary  teachers  and  also 
offering  fall  curricula  for  high  school  teachers  of  history,  English,  and  possibly  of 
modern  languages;  while  school  A  might  offer  in  addition  an  advanced  curriculum  in 

1  Kirksville,  Warrensburg,  and  Maryville  rate  (1915)  as  collegiate  all  instruction  in  Latin  beyond  the  second  year- 
Cape  Girardeau  and  Springfield  include  the  third  year  as  secondary  work.  The  latter  rating  has  been  followed  here. 

2  Kirksville,  9  classes,  averaging:  5  students;  Warrensburg,  9  classes,  averaging'  6M  students;  Cape  Girardeau,  11 
classes,  averaging-  7  students ;  Springfield,  10  classes,  averaging  5j£  students  (omitting  two  summer  teachers'  classes 
of  36  and  38  students) ;  and  Maryville,  1  class  with  6  students. 

s  Under  present  (1916)  conditions  of  teaching  load  (twenty-five  hours)  and  salary  ($1676),  such  consolidations  would 
have  saved  the  state  over  two  thousand  dollars  in  the  year  in  this  department  alone. 

*  In  the  inexperienced  group  of  1915  (159  out  of  a  total  including  over  ninety  per  cent  of  all  existing  positions  in  the 
state  at  large),  only  seven  of  those  who  taught  but  one  subject  came  from  the  normal  schools :  three  women  taught 
English,  two  household  arts,  and  two  men  taught  mathematics. 


PRESENT  SITUATION  $62 

fine  arts  and  music,  and  school  B  similar  opportunities  in  Latin  and  commercial  sub- 
jects. Schools  C  and  D5  on  the  other  hand,  would  give  all  of  the  necessary  beginning 
courses  needed  for  their  groups  of  teachers,  but  would  confine  their  advanced  curricula 
to  mathematics  and  science,  with  a  special  curriculum  in  C  for  agriculture  and  in  D 
for  household  arts.  School  E  could  be  assigned  special  curricula  in  physical  training 
and  in  other  subjects  as  they  developed.  In  this  way  any  student  would  find  at  some 
normal  school  in  the  state,  or  at  the  university,  a  curriculum  in  any  desired  subject 
that  could  not  well  be  improved  upon  elsewhere,  instead  of  five  impoverished  cen- 
tres vainly  struggling  with  a  weak  dilution  of  everything.  More  travel  might  indeed 
be  necessary  for  some  students  who  were  sure  of  what  they  wished  to  study.  For  the 
majority,  however,  the  program  at  any  one  school  would  present  sufficient  variety  to 
allow  for  personal  adjustment  on  the  part  of  those  who  might  attend  from  the  local 
community. 

ADVANTAGES  OF  DIFFERENTIATION 

This  principle  of  differentiated  effort  is  the  only  practicable  remedy  for  the  situa- 
tion confronting  the  Missouri  schools,  and  would  long  since  have  been  applied  had 
an  active  central  board  or  single  educational  authority  been  in  charge  to  resist  local 
pressure  and  enforce  a  wise  coordination.  The  results  accomplished  elsewhere,  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, in  Wisconsin,  and  in  New  York,  for  example,  have  been  notably  success- 
ful and  worthy  of  imitation.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  normal  schools,  because  they 
serve  small  towns  and  small  schools,  should  serve  them  in  a  small  manner.  The  ser- 
vice they  render  should  be  respected  and  acceptable  in  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City,  or  any- 
where else.  If  a  candidate  can  take  but  a  two-year  curriculum,  he  should  be  assured 
of  obtaining  the  best  as  far  as  he  goes.  This  is  plainly  impossible  now.  The  very  size 
of  their  avowed  program  confuses  the  schools.  With  insufficient  demand,  insufficient 
students,  insufficient  funds,  and  insufficient  staff  to  conduct  all  departments  well,  they 
are  bewildered  as  to  what  they  shall  do,  lest  to  develop  fully  any  particular  field  may 
be  construed  as  relinquishing  their  claim  to  develop  all  others  with  equal  success.  To 
keep  up  an  appearance  of  expansion,  a  school  is  tempted  to  injure  its  basic  courses; 
one  school  during  two  recent  years  sacrificed  funds  that  should  have  been  used  for 
sorely  needed  books,  to  build  a  greenhouse!  All  have  experiment  farms,  but  fine  tho 
it  is  to  have  them,  they  serve  little  organic  purpose  in  the  school  because  the  division 
of  agricultural  training  among  the  five  schools  and  the  university  will  not  justify  or 
permit  of  the  proper  development  of  the  facilities  at  any  one  point.  Country  life  con- 
ferences in  the  fall  and  short  courses  (not  in  teaching)  for  farmers'  boys  in  the  winter 
have  been  inaugurated  in  connection  with  such  equipment ;  both  produce  a  genial 
glow  in  the  community,  but  have  actually  little  to  do  with  preparing  the  type  of 
teachers  that  these  schools  send  out. 

These  three  causes  —  duplicated  courses  du-e  to  unregulated  attendance,  parallel 
courses  needlessly  multiplied  out  of  deference  to  the  elective  idea,  and  specialized 


SELECTION  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  CURRICULA 

courses  taken  by  a  few  students  only  but  kept  going  for  the  sake  of  presenting  an 
unbroken  front  to  students  and  competitors  —  are  chiefly  responsible  for  the  weak- 
ness of  the  present  administrative  system  as  it  concerns  the  curricula.  They  are  the 
natural  results  of  efforts  on  the  part  of  vigorous  and  aggressive  schools,  without 
losing  touch  with  their  public,  to  embark  on  all  forms  of  varied  modern  training 
for  the  teaching  profession,  and  to  do  so  independently  because  neither  the  tradition 
nor,  until  recently,  the  absolute  need  for  cooperation  has  existed.  The  ambitions  to 
this  end  are  praiseworthy  in  the  highest  degree,  but  in  their  present  form  or  in  any 
conceivable  form  which  present  conditions  would  permit,  the  efforts  to  work  them 
out  must  inevitably  be  disappointing  or  disastrous. 

EFFECT  OF  THE  PRESENT  POLICIES  UPON  THE  BASIC  WO&K  OF  THE  INSTITUTIONS 

The  effect  of  the  present  policy  in  lowering  standards  and  wasting  money  has 
been  made  clear  in  the  case  of  the  advanced  courses,  but  the  policy  is  one  that  cuts  both 
ways.  Funds  with  which  to  expand  the  curricula  at  the  top  must  often  be  taken 
from  courses  at  the  bottom,  and  to  see  that  this  has  been  done,  one  has  only  to  note 
the  size  of  classes  at  the  large  end  of  the  scale.1  It  has  been  stated  that  for  the  usual 
discussion  class  in  the  normal  school,  thirty  members  is  a  maximum  consistent  with 
good  teaching.  During  the  regular  winter  session  of  1915-16,  twelve  per  cent  (fifteen 
per  cent  at  Springfield)  of  the  classes  in  collegiate  work  exceeded  this  figure,  but  the 
proportion  rose  in  summer  to  thirty-six  per  cent  (forty-six  per  cent  at  Kirksville). 
These  excesses  are  chiefly,  of  course,  in  the  elementary  classes  of  the  first  collegiate 
year  where  students  fresh  from  high  school  are  receiving  their  first  professional  train- 
ing. The  following  teachers'  programs  from  three  schools  illustrate  the  conditions : 

SPBINGFIEUD  CAPE  GIRARDEAU  KIRKSVTLLE 

cr»,7,^«-f  Number  of  <?„,>>„*„„+  Number  of  o«*>'«  *  Number  of 

Subject  Students  Subject  students  Subject  Students 

Psychology  54  Psychology  70  Psychology  71 

Psychology  44  Psychology  54  Psychology  31 

Educational  Psychology  33  Psychology  68  Educational  Psychology  37 

Educational  Psychology  32  Psychology  47  History  of  Education  77 

Educational  Psychology  39  Child  Study  46  History  of  Education  45 

Sociology  16 

Average  Class  36  Average  Class     57  Average  Class  52 

To  term  the  work  done  in  these  large  groups  "collegiate""  may  not  at  first  appear 
to  be  a  misnomer,  except  in  so  far  as  overburdened  teachers  are  concerned.2  Some  col- 
leges using  the  lecture,  test,  and  examination  method  have  equally  large  classes  with- 
out seriously  ill  effect.  This  method  is,  however,  expressly  disclaimed  at  the  normal 
schools;  these  are  "recitation  "classes  in  every  case,  as  classes  at  this  stage  of  prof es- 

1  See  page  4S6. 

2  The  instructor  at  Cape  Girardeau  did  his  work  in  fifteen  hours  per  week ;  but  the  other  two  taught,  one  twenty-five 
and  one  thirty  hours. 


CURRICULA  NEEDED  IN  MISSOURI  265 

sional  training  should  clearly  be.  To  expect  any  teacher  to  conduct  on  this  plan  and 
without  assistance  five  classes  daily,  numbering  as  many  students  as  these  do,  and  that 
in  a  period  of  excessive  heat,  is  to  expect  the  impossible.  The  work  attempted  by 
these  three  men,  if  properly  handled,  would  have  required  the  full  time  of  six  in- 
structors, even  allowing  slightly  over  eighteen  hours  of  work  per  week,  as  a  conces- 
sion in  view  of  the  numerous  repetitions  involved.  The  obligation  to  furnish  com- 
petent instruction  to  this  extent  should  have  been  met,  or  else  the  applications 
should  have  been  refused.  Good  administration  means  this.  Instead  of  creating  a  staff 
suitable  for  the  work  actually  in  hand,  however,  the  expansion  of  collegiate  elec- 
tives  as  a  first  consideration  has  absorbed  all  of  the  money  that  could  possibly  be 
extracted. 

The  same  situation  appears  among  the  secondary  classes  with,  if  possible,  still  worse 
excuse.  Students  less  mature  than  their  collegiate  colleagues,  with  weaker  initiative 
and  less  adaptability  to  the  difficulties  of  the  large  class,  have  actually  done  their  work 
in  the  normal  schools  under  conditions  that  a  good  high  school  would  not  tolerate, 
Sixty  in  a  grammar  class  and  forty-nine  in  rhetoric  at  Cape  G-irardeau;  fifty -six  in 
American  history,  fifty -two  in  physiography  at  \Varrensburg;  rural  school  methods 
for  eighty  at  Kirksville  from  a  teacher  with  five  daily  classes  averaging  fifty-six  each; 
seventy-two  in  rural  teaching  at  Mary  vi lie,  one  of  the  teacher's  four  daily  classes ;  — 
these  are  monstrosities  of  which  no  good  institution  should  be  guilty.  Between  their 
small  classes  in  the  regular  session  and  their  large  classes  in  the  summer  session  the 
schools  waver  between  illogical  and  hurtful  extremes  that  argue  a  desire  to  exploit 
their  respective  opportunities  rather  than  to  hold  consistently  to  good  educational 
principles. 

2.  Number  and  Kind  of  Curricula  needed  in  Missouri 

The  selection  and  management  of  professional  curricula  cannot  proceed  intelli- 
gently without  a  fairly  exact  knowledge  of  the  dimensions  of  the  problem  to  be 
solved.  With  proper  organization,  accurate  reports  from  every  teaching  position  in 
the  state  can  easily  be  secured  by  a  state  department  and  worked  up  year  by  year 
into  a  clear  picture  of  what  the  agencies  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  have  before 
them.  This  is  more  difficult  for  an  outside  agency  asking  for  unwonted  reports  that 
represent  at  best  only  a  cross  section  of  the  state  at  a  single  moment.  The  returns 
filed  with  the  Foundation  are  so  extensive,  however,  that  they  admit  of  an  approx- 
imation to  the  actual  conditions  sufficiently  close  to  serve  at  least  the  purposes  of 
illustration.  They  are  briefly  summarized  here  not  for  their  absolute  value,  but  to 
indicate  in  outline  the  information  which,  in  much  more  complete  form,  should  be 
constantly  before  the  central  authority  having  the  preparation  of  the  state's  teach- 
ers in  charge. 


£66  SELECTION  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  CURRICULA 

TEACHERS  IN  RURAL  SCHOOLS 

So  far  as  can  be  discovered,  there  were  In  1914-15  in  Missouri  ten  thousand  five 
hundred  fifteen1  teaching  positions  in  one-room  schools  or  in  rooms  containing  more 
than  three  grades  of  children.  Of  different  white  teachers  holding  these  positions  in 
the  spring  or  fall  of  1915,  replies  were  secured  from  eight  thousand  two  hundred  sev- 
enty-seven, and  on  their  replies  the  following  statements  are  based.2 

Thirty-six  per  cent  of  the  teachers  were  in  positions  held  by  them  the  previous  year; 
forty  per  cent  were  teachers  with  experience  in  at  least  one  other  school,  who  were 
new  to  their  positions  that  year;  and  twenty-four  per  cent  were  wholly  inexperienced, 
Hence,  if  this  group  is  typical,  about  twenty-four  hundred  new  teachers  are  needed 
annually  in  Missouri  to  supply  the  rural  schools  alone. 

The  present  deficiency  in  training  is  best  seen  in  a  brief  analysis  of  this  inexpe- 
rienced group.  It  is  represented  by  eleven  hundred  fifty-two  teachers,  or  twenty- 
four  per  cent  of  those  replying  on  the  institute  blank.3  Leaving  out  those  who  failed 
to  state  their  training,4  only  seventeen  per  cent  report  any  work  of  a  collegiate  charac- 
ter in  addition  to  a  secondary  course — usually  a  year  or  less  in  some  normal  school; 
all  the  rest  are  a  secondary  product  exclusively.  Nearly  three-fifths  come  from  high 
schools  where  twenty-four  per  cent  received  less  than  four  years  of  instruction.5 
Thirteen  per  cent  received  a  part,  and  nine  per  cent  all,  of  what  secondary  training 
they  may  have  had,  in  normal  schools.  Four  per  cent  had  no  training  above  the  ele- 
mentary school. 

Another  distribution  of  essentially  the  same  facts  appears  in  the  array  of  certifi- 
cates under  which  this  annual  army  of  recruits  goes  forth.  The  dependence  placed  by 
the  state  on  its  third  grade  county  certificate,  recently  made  available  for  eight  years 
instead  of  four,6  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  nearly  half — forty-seven  per  cent — of 
the  new  rural  teachers  have  nothing  else.  Twenty  per  cent  hold  the  second  grade 
county  certificate,  while  but  two  per  cent  hold  the  first  grade  county  or  any  form  of 
state  certificate.  Eighteen  per  cent  hold  the  high  school  training-class  license,  and 
from  normal  schools  seven  per  cent  hold  the  rural  certificate  and  five  per  cent  the 
thirty-hour  certificate;  one  per  cent  hold  a  diploma. 

With  liberal  allowance  for  schooling  from  all  sources,  it  is  clear  that  a  large  ma- 
jority of  this  great  number  who  undertake  for  the  first  time  to  teach  schools  in  the 
rural  communities  of  Missouri  are  unfit  to  be  entrusted  with  such  a  task  even  ac- 
cording to  present  low  standards  of  qualification. 


1  This  number  includes  about  five  per  cent  estimated  to  be  positions  for  teachers  of  more  than  three  grades  in  graded 
schools,  inasmuch  as  five  per  cent  of  the  8277  replies  were  of  this  character.  Of  "country"  schools,  as  understood 
by  the  state  department,  there  seem  to  have  been  9990. 

2  See  note  3,  page  361.  The  statements  in  this  section  follow  the  second  group  of  returns. 

3  See  note  3,  page  361. 
*  Two  per  cent. 

5  About  one-third  of  these  attended  only  one  year  or  less. 
c  See  page  305,  note. 


CURRICULA  NEEDED  IN  MISSOURI  267 

TEACHERS  IN  GRADED  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

Elementary  teachers  in  graded  schools  have  been  considered  in  three  groups :  those 
in  St.  Louis,  those  in  Kansas  City,  and  those  in  the  state  at  large.  The  total  n am- 
bers of  white  elementary  teachers  in  these  groups  are  1789?  779,  and  3650, x  respec- 
tively. The  corresponding  proportion  of  response  to  enquiries  was  eighty-seven -per 
cent,  ninety-five  per  cent,  and  sixty-four  per  cent. 

The  number  of  teachers  reporting  themselves  as  new  to  their  work  in  St.  Louis  and 
Kansas  City  is,  for  no  apparent  reason,  extraordinarily  small, — two  and  three  per 
cent.  This  proportion  does  not  conform  to  the  facts,  and  may  be  due  to  the  incli- 
nation of  freshly  appointed  teachers  to  regard  their  earlier  apprenticeship  in  these 
systems  as  equivalent  to  experience.  In  the  remainder  of  the  state  the  proportion  of 
change  is  nearly  one-third,  as  compared  with  almost  two-thirds  in  the  rural  group, 
altho  but  twelve  per  cent  are  fresh  accessions  and  still  fewer,  nine  per  cent,  are  wholly 
inexperienced.  If  these  proportions  are  typical,  the  average  teaching  life  of  a  teacher 
in  the  graded  schools  of  Missouri  is  about  eleven  years,  and  the  state  at  large,  outside 
of  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City,  requires  for  annual  replacement  about  three  hundred 
thirty  freshly  prepared  teachers.  It  is  possible  that  voluntary  replies,  such  as  these 
were,  represent  most  largely  the  experienced  teachers.  The  uncertainty  of  interpre- 
tation at  such  an  important  point  as  this  shows  the  necessity  of  requiring  a  complete 
inventory  of  teaching  personnel  if  the  problem  of  supply  is  to  be  handled  intelli- 
gently. 

While  it  is  now  the  exception  for  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  to  employ  new  teachers 
without  two  or  more  years  of  collegiate  preparation,  the  remainder  of  the  state  is 
satisfied  that  half  of  its  new  teachers  should  come  directly  from  secondary  study,  that 
one-sixth  of  them  should  have  taken  but  a  partial  high  school  course,  and  that  only 
one-fourth  of  them  should  have  as  much  as  two  years  of  professional  training.  The 
great  majority  of  new  workers  pass  first  into  the  intermediate  grades  and  are  then 
presumably  " promoted"  in  either  direction.  Fifty- six  per  cent  of  those  outside  of 
the  two  large  cities  are  obliged  to  teach  more  than  one  grade. 

TEACHERS  IN  HIGH  SCHOOLS 

Among  the  classified  high  school  teachers  of  the  state,2  ninety-two  per  cent  in  all 
and  a  still  larger  proportion  of  teachers  in  first  class  schools  responded  to  the  en- 
quiries made  of  them ;  at  St.  Louis  ninety-six  per  cent,  and  at  Kansas  City  ninety- 
eight  per  cent  replied.  This  group  of  instructors  is  therefore  well  represented. 

The  proportion  of  change  in  the  group  is  astonishing.  Omitting  the  two  largest 
cities,  nearly  half —  forty- six —  out  of  every  hundred  teachers  in  classified  high  schools 
were  new  to  their  positions  in  1915.  Twenty-one  of  these  forty-six  were  experienced 
teachers  from  other  schools,  in  most  cases  within  the  state;  twenty-five,  however,  were 

1  In  the  state  at  large  principals  are  included  among  the  teachers,  as  they  chiefly  are  such. 

2  Including  principals. 


268  SELECTION  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  CURRICULA 

new :  ten  of  them  resuming  teaching  after  an  interruption,  perhaps  for  study,  and 
fifteen  being  wholly  untried.  The  two  great  cities  admit  but  a  negligible  proportion  of 
inexperienced  teachers  into  their  high  schools:  St.  Louis,  one  per  cent;  Kansas  City, 
three  per  cent.  Consequently  in  so  far  as  teachers  for  these  systems  are  drawn  from 
within  the  state,  they  must  get  their  experience  in  the  smaller  centres.  If  fifteen  per 
cent  of  the  total  number  of  positions  is  the  total  number  of  new  teachers  required, 
these  would  number  in  1914-15  about  one  hundred  seventy-five. 

The  present  preparation  of  this  inexperienced  group,  as  shown  in  the  records  of 
one  hundred  fifty -nine  teachers  reporting  from  classified  high  schools,  is  all  but  three 
per  cent  in  advance  of  secondary  work.  Nine-tenths  have  had  more  than  one  year  of 
collegiate  work;  two-thirds  of  them  have  had  over  two  years;  and  fifty-five  per  cent 
have  had  four  years  or  more.  Slightly  over  one-third  ever  attended  a  normal  school. 

As  to  subjects  taught  on  first  appointment,  one-fourth  of  the  number  were  at  work 
in  a  single  field;  with  five  exceptions  these  were  in  first  class  schools.  Forty-six  per 
cent  taught  a  combination  of  two  subjects,  and  the  remainder  taught  three  or,  in 
three  cases,  four  subjects.  For  men,  science  stands  first  in  frequency,  followed  by  math- 
ematics, commercial  subjects,  manual  training,  and  drawing;  for  women,  English  is 
far  in  advance,  with  household  arts,  commercial  subjects,  mathematics,  history,  sci- 
ence, and  Latin  following  in  the  order  named.  No  other  subject  was  taught  exclu- 
sively by  more  than  one  of  these  new  teachers.  Leading  combinations  of  two  or  more 
subjects  are  combinations  of  the  above,  with  the  addition  of  agriculture  and  history 
for  men  and  German  for  women. 

HOW  SHALL  THIS  NEED  BE  MET? 

To  sum  up  the  situation  thus  briefly  reviewed  and  to  suggest  adjustments  of  the 
existing  facilities  to  meet  it  is  an  undertaking  that  can  be  attempted  only  in  broadest 
outline  in  view  of  the  meagre  information  at  hand;  it  is  properly  a  matter  for  close 
and  continuous  study  based  upon  the  accumulation  of  accurate  figures  covering  sev- 
eral years.  These  do  not  exist  in  Missouri  at  present,  hence  the  element  of  annual 
increase  or  decrease  in  the  number  of  new  teachers  required  has  necessarily  been  dis- 
regarded, altho  it  is  the  essential  variable  to  be  reckoned  with  in  the  administration 
of  a  permanent  policy.  With  appropriate  data  it  can  be  forecast  very  accurately. 

The  crying  need  of  the  state  is  plainly  among  its  rural  schools.  Twenty-four 
hundred  new  teachers  are  required  annually.  In  1915—16,  one  hundred  three  training 
classes  in  high  schools  graduated  seven  hundred  seventy-four  teachers,  of  whom  per- 
haps two-thirds,  or  five  hundred  eleven,  went  into  rural  schools.1  Judging  from  the 
group  of  teachers  new  in  1915,  the  normal  schools  may  be  depended  on  to  reach 
twenty-two  per  cent,  or  five  hundred  twenty-eight,  with  some  sort  of  secondary  train- 
ing, while  the  normal  schools  and  colleges  give  some  collegiate  work  to  over  four 

1  The  State  Report  for  the  preceding:  year,  1915,  page  91,  gives  65  per  cent  as  the  proportion  of  the  graduates  in  1915 
who  taught  in  rural  schools;  no  quotation  appears  in  the  Report  for  1916. 


CURRICULA  NEEDED  IN  MISSOURI  269 

hundred  more,  tho  little  of  all  this  training  is  at  present  suited  to  the  needs  of  the 
rural  teacher.  These  three  groups  together  make  a  total  of  fourteen  hundred  thirty- 
nine  teachers  in  contact  with  some  professional  training  centre.  Nine  hundred  sixty- 
one  are  left  for  whom  provision  must  be  made.  To  treble  the  number  BOW  graduated 
from  the  training  classes  would  supply  these.  Certainly  an  average  of  fifteen  usable 
teachers  from  each  of  one  hundred  training  classes  is  no  very  difficult  achievement 
if  undertaken  seriously. 

The  general  direction  that  provision  for  these  teachers  must  take  seems  plain. 
The  personal  interests  of  those  who  desire  to  maintain  a  cheap  and  handy  employ- 
ment for  their  daughters  at  the  expense  of  the  welfare  of  the  whole  population, 
should  give  way.  The  rural  districts  can  have  what  they  wish,  but  are  damaging 
their  own  future  by  their  short-sighted  refusal  to  legislate  wisely  on  the  matter  of 
certificates.  The  state  superintendent  should  be  given  power  to  abolish  the  third 
grade  certificate  except  in  counties  where  in  his  judgment  the  training  facilities  are 
inadequate  for  a  better  grade  of  teacher.  The  membership  in  training  classes  should 
be  increased  from  an  average  of  eight  to  an  average  of  from  fifteen  to  twenty  by  in- 
creasing salaries  and  by  the  refusal  of  a  rural  school  license  to  any  new  teacher  not 
possessed  of  a  training-class  certificate,  or  its  equivalent  from  a  normal  school.  Train- 
ing-class certificates  should,  of  course,  be  limited  strictly  to  rural  schools,  thereby 
making  the  whole  class  annually  available  for  this  service. 

To  increase  the  size  of  training  classes  is  but  a  temporary  expedient,  however.  Mis- 
souri should  at  once  foresee  the  time  when  aH  rural  teachers  shall  be  prepared  at  com- 
petent institutions  and  be  ensured  as  good  a  preparation  as  that  given  a  teacher  in 
a  city  school.  The  normal  schools  will  eventually  be  obliged  to  take  over  this  work, 
and  they  can  do  it  if  they  have  the  support  of  suitable  legislation.  Secondary  stu- 
dents should  presently  be  turned  back  to  the  high  school,  thus  sacrificing  the  twenty- 
two  per  cent  who  have  been  teaching  on  the  strength  of  this  wholly  Insufficient  prepa- 
ration. To  make  up  for  these,  students  who  complete  but  one  collegiate  year  should 
be  licensed  to  teach  in  rural  schools  only,  and  the  courses  required  for  all  such  licenses 
should  be  concentrated  on  the  problems  of  rural  school  teaching.  The  training  should 
be  distinctly  better  than  that  which  is  possible  in  a  high  school  training  class,  and 
graduates  should  be  granted  better  certificates  and  should  command  larger  salaries. 
The  schools  should  do  their  utmost  to  make  these  one-year  curricula  attractive. 
Courses  not  leading  to  rural  school  work  should  be  found  only  in  longer  curricula, 
and  students  taking  these  should  receive  a  certificate  to  teach  only  on  their  com- 
pletion. 

The  median  salary  of  all  rural  teachers  who  have  attended  a  normal  school  is  fifty 
dollars  per  month, as  compared  with  forty-five  dollars  in  the  group  as  a  whole;  twenty- 
seven  per  cent  receive  over  fifty  dollars.  To  secure  an  adequate  number  of  teachers  at 
the  new  standard  and  under  present  conditions,  a  rising  minimum  salary  established 
by  law  must  keep  pace  with  the  increasing  requirements.  To  suggest  what  these 


270  SELECTION  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  CURRICULA 

minima  should  be  is  not  easy,  and  involves  a  hazardous  compromise  with  a  much 
exaggerated  "practical  situation."  It  may  be  said,  however,  that  Missouri  would  meet, 
fairly  and  none  too  quickly,  the  most  important  obligation  of  any  sort  now  facing 
her,  if  within  three  years  every  teacher  in  a  rural  school  were  receiving  at  least  one 
thousand  dollars,  and  within  five  years  at  least  fifteen  hundred  dollars  a  year.  For  a 
wealthy  state  like  Missouri  this  increase  is  insignificant  when  compared  with  the  vital 
importance  of  what  it  will  purchase. 

The  new  teachers  needed  annually  in  graded  elementary  schools  outside  of  St. 
Louis  and  Kansas  City  numbered  three  hundred  thirty,  according  to  the  estimate 
derived  above.  This  would  require  sixty-six  two-year  graduates  annually  from  each 
of  the  five  normal  schools — a  number  certainly  well  within  the  facilities  of  these 
schools  to  provide,  assuming  that  the  economic  and  legislative  situation  were  such  as 
to  supply  them  with  students.  There  must  be  sufficient  salary  inducement  to  attract 
students  and  a  regulation  that  will  hold  them  to  their  curricula.  As  suggested  else- 
where, centres  of  more  than  five  thousand  inhabitants  should  not  be  permitted  to 
employ  new  teachers  having  less  than  two  years  of  professional  preparation,  and  as 
soon  as  possible  the  same  rule  should  be  made  universal.  With  a  regulated  qualifi- 
cation the  salaries  would  necessarily  rise  with  the  demand,  and  the  supply  would  soon 
follow. 

The  group  beginning  work  in  classified  high  schools  was  found  to  number  about 
one  hundred  seventy-five.  Of  these  the  university,  either  alone  or  with  the  help  of 
other  colleges,  prepared  thirty-six  per  cent,  and  could  easily  prepare  many  more 
were  the  positions  in  Missouri  high  schools  sufficiently  attractive  financially  to  allow 
it.  Fourteen  per  cent  came  from  other  academic  institutions  within  the  state9  and  a 
somewhat  larger  number  came  from  without.  A  second  thirty-five  per  cent  had  at- 
tended the  state  normal  schools;  often  in  addition  to  other  institutions.  Divided 
among  five  schools,  this  latter  number  gives  twelve  to  each,  which  again  subdivided 
among  the  many  different  departments  at  each  school  reduces  the  present  scheme 
to  an  absurdity.1  As  pointed  out  earlier  in  this  section,  the  only  rational  treatment 
of  this  situation  is  to  differentiate  the  work  done  by  the  various  schools  and  build 
up  good  curricula  for  training  high  school  teachers  at  single  schools  only  instead  of 
scattering  the  efforts  among  six. 

In  dealing  as  above  with  the  inexperienced  group  of  elementary  and  secondary 
teachers,  it  should  not  be  overlooked  that  these  are  but  a  part  of  the  present  prob- 
lem of  the  normal  schools.  The  schools  have  continually  and  properly  sought  to  tempt 
teachers  in  service  to  return  and  improve  their  preparation.  Assuming  that  all  of  the 
experienced  "reentrants"  among  the  accessions  of  1915  to  the  elementary  group  had 
been  in  normal  schools,  this  would  raise  their  responsibility  from  three  hundred  thirty 
to  four  hundred  thirty-eight.  Similarly,  by  adding  the  experienced  reentrants,  the 

1  Altho  reports  were  received  from  more  unclassified  schools  than  were  listed  by  the  state  department,  only  seven 
new  teachers  were  discovered,  five  of  them  prepared  by  normal  schools ;  ten  were  experienced  "reentrants,"  mak- 
ing a  total  accession  group  of  seventeen. 


CURRICULA  NEEDED  IN  MISSOURI  271 

total  of  the  secondary  group  would  rise  from  one  hundred  seventy-five  to  two  hun- 
dred ninety-one,  of  which  the  normal  school's  proportion  would  be  thirty-five  per 
cent  or  one  hundred  two,  about  twenty  to  each  school.  These  increases  leave  the  sit- 
uation wholly  unchanged.  The  normal  schools  may  always  be  called  upon,  especially 
in  vacation  sessions,  to  provide  advanced  instruction  for  experienced  students  who 
have  already  completed  their  basic  preparation.  Such  subsidiary  activities,  however, 
altho  important,  should  not  be  permitted  to  interfere  with  the  development  of  system- 
atic curricula  for  the  sufficient  initial  training  of  students  entering  the  profession. 
This  is  at  present  the  fundamental  duty  of  these  institutions. 


VIII 
OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

THE  following  chapter  is  devoted,  except  for  occasional  references,  exclusively  to  the 
state  normal  schools.  It  should  not  be  inferred  from  this  that  the  city  training  schools 
have  no  problems  of  administration  that  merit  discussion.  The  fact  is,  however,  that 
the  training  school  of  the  type  of  Harris  Teachers  College  at  St.  Louis  either  never 
encounters  such  problems  as  the  independent  state  school  has  to  meet,  or  else  has 
already  achieved  a  working  solution  of  them.  This  is  due  to  the  very  nature  of  its 
situation.  Such  a  school  has  originated  out  of  specific  needs,  precisely  measured  and 
understood;  it  operates  in  full  view  of  the  conditions  that  are  constantly  pressing, 
and  relentlessly  testing  its  success  or  failure;  it  is  a  constituent  part  of  the  organ- 
ization that  it  serves,  hence  its  aims  are  concrete  and  direct,  lost  motion  and  waste- 
ful projects  are  eliminated,  personal  vagaries  are  corrected,  and  its  apparatus  is  ad- 
justed to  a  relatively  high  tension  of  smooth  and  profitable  performance. 

The  state  schools  are  not  yet  so  fortunate.  They  were  established  in  response  to 
urgent  but  vaguely  defined  demands  assuming  promiscuous  forms ;  themselves  located 
in  small,  often  remote,  communities,  they  are  at  a  distance  from  most  of  the  schools 
that  they  are  expected  to  benefit,  and  have  infrequent  communication  with  the  teach- 
ers they  prepare  or  with  their  supervisors ;  as  they  are  independent  and  formally  irre- 
sponsible, no  one  effectually  criticises  or  calls  them  to  account;  the  way  is  therefore 
open  to  what  is  frequently  erratic  and  capricious  development,  heedless  of  the  clear 
necessities  of  the  field ;  and  ambiguous  aims  and  a  relaxed  procedure  are  difficult  to 
avoid.  As  is  shown  elsewhere,1  weaknesses  such  as  these  are  inevitable  under  present 
conditions,  but  can  be  readily  overcome  by  better  organization — an  organization 
whereby  the  public  schools  of  the  state  and  the  institutions  that  provide  them  with 
teachers  may  be  brought  into  successful  and  economical  working  relations  not  unlike 
those  that  prevail  in  a  good  city  system,  while  preserving  the  many  advantages  of  a 
freer  and  more  wholesome  environment. 

A.  PRESIDENT  AND  STAFF 

The  administration  of  each  normal  school  is  vested  in  an  officer,  called  a  president, 
who  is  elected  by  the  board  of  regents  of  that  school  for  a  period  usually  of  two 
years  at  the  meeting  following  the  biennial  reorganization,  when  the  two  newly  ap- 
pointed members  of  the  board  take  their  seats.  This  officer  in  turn  nominates  instruc- 
tors and  assistants  for  election  by  the  board  for  one  year  (two  years  at  Cape  Girar- 
deau).  The  teachers  are  loosely  grouped  into  "departments;"  such  departments  as 
are  sufficiently  large  have  some  informally  recognized  head,  but  except  in  a  few  minor 
matters,  each  individual  takes  his  official  directions  solely  from  the  president. 

1  See  Chapter  IV. 


THE  PRESIDENT 

1.  The  President 

In  respect  to  his  powers  and  duties  the  president  appears  to  represent  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  earlier  secondary  academy  or  small  private  college  rather  than  the  mod- 
ern higher  institution  of  size  corresponding  to  the  normal  school.  Except  at  War- 
rensburg,  and  very  recently  at  Kirksville,  his  domination  is  absolute.  In  the  matter 
of  appointment,  promotion,  and  dismissal  of  instructors  he  is  subject  to  the  will  of 
his  board;  but  in  regulating  the  minutest  internal  affairs  he  is  supreme.  From  the 
prices  at  which  a  student's  used  textbooks  shall  be  redeemed  to  the  courses  of  study 
and  general  educational  policy  of  the  school,  he  is  sole  arbiter.  He  consults  his  faculty 
on  many  matters,  but  is  never  bound  by  their  action,  if  indeed  any  action  results  from 
their  deliberation.  He  establishes  the  value  of  credentials  and  allowances  of  advanced 
standing,  determines  and  referees  resident  credit,  makes  and  revises  students"1  pro- 
grams ;  he  looks  after  the  advertising  and  financial  interests  of  the  institution,  deals 
with  the  board  of  regents,  and  labors  with  the  legislature.  In  short,  the  normal  school 
president  is  the  school;  remove  him  and  the  school  has  no  policy;  convert  him  and  at 
once  all  that  is  publicly  vocal  in  the  institution  changes  front.  He  speaks  invariably 
with  an  impressive  collective  "we,""  but  he  signifies  almost  exclusively  himself. 

MODERN  CONCEPTION  OF  A  PRESIDENT'S  DUTIES 

It  is  true,  of  course,  that  most  collegiate  institutions  in  America  are  the  outgrowth 
of  a  somewhat  similar  theory  regarding  the  function  and  responsibility  of  the  pres- 
ident. By  progressive,  if  tacit,  delegations  of  power,  however,  and  by  a  more  and  more 
complete  enlistment  of  faculty  cooperation,  the  first  class  college  long  since  passed 
the  level  on  which  it  is  apparently  still  possible  for  a  normal  school  to  operate.  Not 
to  speak  of  the  trivial  items  easily  handed  over  to  a  responsible  janitor  or  assistant, 
all  routine  contact  with  the  individual  student,  such  as  registration  and  classification, 
the  checking  of  credentials,  the  qualification  of  students  for  graduation,  and  so  forth, 
has  found  its  way  into  the  hands  of  registrars,  faculty  officers,  or  committees  who  thru 
continued  experience  quickly  become  expert  in  a  single  aspect  of  administration. 

Two  fundamental  considerations  justify  this  arrangement.  As  educational  institu- 
tions have  become  larger  and  more  complex,  the  mass  of  intersecting  relations  has 
made  it  imperative  that  the  guiding  mind  be  set  free  for  close,  detached  study  of  the 
principles  that  govern  all  this  and  other  institutional  procedure;  that  time  be  pro- 
vided for  abundant  outside  observation,  comparison,  and  reflection ;  and  that  he  be 
so  lifted  above  detail  as  to  serve  steadily,  without  waste  or  hurry,  his  main  function 
to  be  the  inspiring  power  and  illuminating  interpreter  behind  the  whole  organ- 
ization. Another  reason  has  been  no  less  potent.  A  skilful  and  sincere  administrator 
operates  thru  principles,  and  removes  himself  as  far  as  possible  from  personal  inter- 
ference with  the  concrete  case.  He  constantly  seeks  to  refine  and  correct  the  principles 
in  the  interests  of  justice  and  the  purpose  involved,  but  he  devises  the  system  that 
requires  him  to  turn  his  own  son  over  to  a  faculty  committee  for  impartial  treatment 


274  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

rather  than  risk  the  chance  or  charge  of  favoritism  in  personal  relations  with  students. 
He  stands  for  something  that  may  not  be  thus  endangered,  and  the  fact  that  petty 
difficulties  of  students  may  be  authoritatively  threshed  out  with  subordinates  who 
have  usually  greater  technical  skill  and  far  less  occasion  for  partisanship  adds  greatly 
to  Ms  own  influence  in  larger  matters. 

The  curriculum  with  its  related  problems  is  another  field  that  is  no  longer  the 
closed  preserve  of  the  modern  college  president.  While  the  several  departments  are 
allowed  great  latitude  as  to  the  character  of  the  courses  that  they  offer,  the  curricu- 
lum as  a  whole,  the  relation  of  its  parts,  the  allowable  combinations  of  subjects  and  se- 
quence, are  matters  that  are  determined  after  prolonged  and  thorough  faculty  discus- 
sion, usually  after  the  prior  efforts  of  a  select  committee;  and  the  action  of  the  faculty 
in  the  matter  is  final.  Naturally,  the  influence  of  the  president  in  all  this  is  impor- 
tant, and  should  be  so,  for  the  study  of  such  problems  is  his  special  business;  but  a 
good  faculty  contains  judgment  equal  or  superior  to  his  on  almost  any  single  point, 
and  it  is  considered  the  height  of  administrative  unwisdom  to  risk  arbitrary  action 
in  matters  that  should  come  thru  cooperative  conclusion,  even  tho  they  come  thus 
more  slowly. 

FUNCTION  OF  THE  PRESIDENT  IN  THE  MISSOURI  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

The  Missouri  normal  schools,  with  certain  exceptions,1  are  an  interesting  study  in 
the  respects  just  noted.  Administrative  perspective  is  largely  lacking;  all  powers,  great 
and  small,  radiate  directly  from  the  presidents.  In  one,  the  president  runs  the  book- 
store, revises  the  registration  of  every  student,  and  superintends  directly  the  outlay 
of  each  penny;  in  another,  the  president  registers  every  student  in  so  far  as  this  is 
physically  possible.  In  the  summer  enrolment  he  is  obliged  to  ask  assistance.  He  has 
recently  arranged  for  aid  in  checking  up  each  student's  record  for  graduation,  but 
passes  finally  on  each  himself,  often  reversing  or  modifying  the  conclusions  of  his 
assistant.  Tho  the  state  has  installed  an  adequate  accounting  system  in  each  school, 
and  provided  a  man  to  run  it,  this  president  keeps  a  detailed  account  of  his  own  as 
before.  The  institution  registers  over  two  thousand  students  each  year  and  has  an 
annual  budget  of  $80,000.  At  a  third  school  the  credit  records  of  all  graduates  for 
the  decade  or  more  that  the  enquirers  studied  were  laboriously  worked  out  in  the 
handwriting  of  the  head  of  the  institution.  Administration  of  this  type  can  have  but 
one  result :  the  guiding  officials  impress  one  as  constantly  immersed  in  endless  affairs 
of  surprising  littleness;  the  schools  seem  truncated,  lacking  clear,  fresh,  and  compre- 
hensive thinking  at  the  top. 

The  curriculum  is  originated  and  developed  in  the  same  way  except  at  Warrens- 

1  At  Warrensburg,  the  whole  matter  of  registration,  credentials,  and  graduation  has  for  many  years  been  in  charge 
of  committees  and  a  competent  dean  clothed  with  the  necessary  authority.  At  Kirksville,  just  as  this  study  was 
begun  in  1914,  the  administration  of  credentials  and  graduation  credit  was  assumed,  on  request  of  the  students, 
by  a  committee  elected  by  the  faculty.  At  Cape  Girardeau,  the  head  of  the  school,  tho  less  burdened  with  the  cler- 
ical task  than  elsewhere,  retains  all  the  authority. 


THE  PRESIDENT  '  £75 

burg.  Most  matters  of  importance  are  doubtless  discussed  in  the  teachers'  meetings, 
but  the  proposals  of  the  president  prevail  or  are  withheld.  At  Mary  ville  and  Spring- 
field these  meetings  leave  no  trace,  not  even  minutes,  the  proceedings  being  of  the 
high  school  type — "inspiration"  or  instructions.  Since  1914  the  Kirksville  staff  has 
preserved  minutes,  as  is  done  also  at  Cape  Girardeau,  but  the  teachers  have  no  im- 
portant power  in  either  school.  At  Warrensburg,  on  the  contrary,  faculty  participa- 
tion in  the  determination  of  the  curriculum  and  credits  has  existed  for  more  than 
a  decade,  and  with  rare  exceptions  faculty  decisions  have  been  final.  A  careful  record 
is  a  matter  of  course. 

EFFECTS  OF  THE  PRESIDENT'S  PREROGATIVE  ON  THE  SCHOOL 

The  consequences  of  the  situation  just  described  are  important.  The  headship  of 
a  normal  school  is  an  almost  unlimited  personal  challenge.  Each  incumbent  desires  to 
succeed.  Under  present  conditions  the  measure  of  success  is  chiefly  the  size  and  promi- 
nence of  the  institution ;  there  exists  no  audit  or  accounting  of  the  factors  governing 
its  inner  worth,  no  check  whatsoever  on  the  part  of  an  outside  agency  in  the  interest 
of  the  state.  In  the  struggle  for  success,  therefore,  where  every  tool  is  available,  it  lies 
solely  with  a  leader's  vision  and  conscience  whether  he  will  promote  his  institution 
on  principles  rigorously  justifiable  educationally,  or  whether  he  will  manipulate  each 
lever  to  serve  immediate  ends ;  whether  he  will  have  the  insight  to  achieve  solid  growth, 
or  will  seek  merely  to  "swell1"' 

The  temptation  is  unfair  and  well-nigh  irresistible.  Here,  for  example,  is  a  new  in- 
stitution set  to  make  its  way  in  a  well-disposed  community;  it  needs  friends, — active 
influences  to  bring  in  students.  What  could  be  more  to  the  point  than  to  gather  in 
promising  teachers  of  the  region,  give  them  a  few  courses,  and  send  them  out  glowing 
with  unearned  and  unexpected  degrees  to  boom  the  school?  Their  only  credential  is 
that  the  president  thought  they  "deserved"  it.  Such  a  proposal,  if  put  before  a  self- 
respecting  faculty,  would  undoubtedly  be  rejected.  One  reads  with  comparative  ap- 
preciation the  first  report  of  the  first  president  at  another  school;  "None  of  these 
[students]  were  sufficiently  advanced  to  enter  a  graduating  class,  but  a  few  of  them 
are  now  successfully  teaching, while  the  most  of  them  are  still  pursuing  their  studies."1 
Unwarranted  use  of  the  presidential  prerogative  has  run  like  a  yellow  strand  thru  the 
otherwise  largely  admirable  service  of  some  of  these  men.  Appears  an  attractive  ap- 
plicant— a  person  mentally  or  physically  plausible  who  will  advertise  the  school — 
and  mere  "requirements'"  are  suddenly  dissolved  in  order  to  fit  his  situation,  credit  is 
meted  out  to  serve  his  need,  and  one  more  indebted  influence  is  attached  to  the  adminis- 
tration; while  some  docile  girl  may  weep  long  on  her  successive  returns  after  intervals 
of  teaching,  at  the  steadily  harder  bargain  that  is  driven  with  her  in  the  interests  of 
"higher  standards.""  The  apparently  well-substantiated  charge  of  calculated  favor- 
itism pursued  some  of  these  gentlemen  even  from  their  otherwise  loyal  supporters. 

1  State  Report,  1874,  page  60. 


£76  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

So  likewise  with  the  curriculum.  An  ambitious  president  has  it  in  his  power  to  in- 
flate his  two-year  program  to  a  four-year  curriculum  solely  on  paper,  and  to  publish 
it  widely  in  his  bulletins.  To  substantiate  the  offering,  he  accepts  credits  from  local 
college  graduates  who,  for  the  sake  of  some  professional  courses  of  sophomore  grade, 
will  consent  to  be  decorated  with  an  additional  A.B.  degree.  These  brilliant  examples 
infect  other  local  products  until  by  dint  of  much  persuasion,  "  teaching  scholarships,"" 
summer  faculty  appointments,  and  other  devices,  a  "four-year  class"  is  achieved. 
Whatever  the  merits  of  a  four-year  curriculum  in  the  given  school  may  eventually 
prove  to  be,  nothing  could  be  clearer  than  that  such  a  group  of  students  is  marshaled 
at  the  outset  not  for  their  own  good, — for  they  would  be  far  better  off  elsewhere, — 
but  solely  to  create  prestige. 

PERSONAL  PREROGATIVE  SHOULD  BE  LIMITED 

It  is  sufficiently  obvious  that  the  growth  of  an  important  educational  institution, 
on  which  a  state  is  relying  for  a  just  recognition  and  satisfaction  of  its  needs  for  ade- 
quately prepared  teachers,  should  not  depend  upon  the  action  of  one  man,  whose  mo- 
tive may  range  from  a  prophetic  insight  to  sheer  self-seeking  caprice.  If  the  school 
must  be  wholly  autonomous,  and  if  it  is  to  have  a  faculty  worthy  of  being  an  instru- 
ment of  higher  education  at  all,  then  let  the  older  and  more  experienced  members  of 
the  faculty  be  made  jointly  responsible  with  the  president  for  the  gradual  and  sane 
educational  development  of  the  whole.  Let  at  least  the  internal  affairs  of  the  school 
be  conducted  on  the  basis  of  complete  publicity  by  disinterested  subordinate  assist- 
ants and  in  accordance  with  principles  thoroughly  discussed,  understood,  and  ap- 
proved by  all. 

But  in  a  state  where  six  institutions  share  the  aforesaid  trust,  each  doing  similar 
work,  often  for  the  same  territory,  the  principle  of  institutional  autonomy  is  wrong. 
In  the  heads  of  these  six  institutions  the  state  possesses  a  group  of  informed  and 
experienced  men  whose  joint  action,  taken  after  long  and  thorough  consideration  of 
all  phases  of  a  problem,  would  undoubtedly  be  much  superior  to  the  isolated  judg- 
ment of  any  one  of  them.  To  such  a  group  the  state  could  assign  the  education  of 
its  teachers  with  more  assurance  certainly  than  it  may  now  properly  feel.  The  faculties 
should  not  be  ignored  in  this.  Deliberations  in  the  several  schools,  either  by  way  of 
initiative  or  on  reference  from  a  central  board  of  presidents,  would  furnish  a  guar- 
antee that  necessary  reforms  would  not  long  fail  of  proposal,  and  that  all  proposals 
would  receive  mature  study. 

3.  The  Staff 

The  personnel  of  the  normal  school  staff  has  already  been  described;1  it  remains  to 

set  forth  the  relations  of  its  members  to  the  working  organization  of  the  institutions. 

From  what  has  just  been  said  regarding  the  powers  of  the  president  it  will  be 

1  See  page  99. 


THE  STAFF  £77 

clear  that  the  term  "staff"  is  used  advisedly;  the  instructors  in  the  Missouri  normal 
schools,  as  at  present  conducted,  do  not  properly  constitute  a  "faculty."  Their  rela- 
tions to  the  administration  are  the  same  as  in  the  average  high  school  or  in  private, 
proprietary  institutions.  They  are  hired  for  a  specific,  limited  purpose,  and  tho  they 
are  expected  to  cooperate  in  a  general  way  for  the  good  of  the  institution,  and  do 
so,  they  are  under  the  immediate  and  complete  direction  of  the  head  of  the  insti- 
tution. Appointment  is  not  in  any  sense  an  admission  into  a  select  and  homogeneous 
group  of  scholars  jointly  responsible  for  a  high  educational  enterprise.  The  terms 
"professor,"  "associate  professor,"  and  so  forth,  do  indeed  appear  in  certain  of  the 
catalogues,  implying  a  genuine  ranking  of  the  teachers,  but  they  are  meaningless  ex- 
cept as  arbitrary  distinctions  indicating  a  possible  difference  in  salary,  and  are  attached 
in  imitation  of  the  collegiate  practice.  One  president  made  a  great  point  of  the  "de- 
mocracy "  of  his  "  faculty"  meetings  in  that  all  instructors  were  admitted  on  an  equal 
footing  —  an  equality  rather  without  significance  inasmuch  as,  apart  from  certain 
details  recently  wrung  from  an  unwilling  administration,  the  "faculty  "  had  no  power. 
It  should  not  be  inferred  that  such  a  group  is  passive:  on  the  contrary,  the  amount 
of  group  and  committee  action  is  large,  but  it  is  always  under  the  personal  direction 
of  the  president  and  concerns  merely  the  course  of  minor  school  affairs.1 

LARGE  DEPARTMENTAL  INITIATIVE 

In  the  conduct  of  his  own  department,  on  the  other  hand,  the  individual  instructor 
has  been  allowed  large  freedom  of  initiative.  The  duties  of  examining  candidates  for 
admission  and  of  validating  claims  for  advanced  standing  were  regularly  referred  to  the 
departments  involved,  until  certification  was  introduced.  As  these  claims  were  constant 
with  the  short-term  student  body,  each  teacher  assumed  a  two-fold  responsibility:  one 
for  the  instruction  that  he  gave,  and  another  for  the  character  of  the  students  that  he 
admitted  to  his  classes.  Controlling  thus  the  granting  of  credit  in  his  own  field,  and 
lacking  serious  supervision  from  above,  he  achieved  a  considerable  autonomy  of  action. 
As  long  as  the  course  of  study  remained  fixed,  and  students  came  to  the  teacher  in 
normal  distribution  among  the  departments,  this  worked  well.  Each  teacher  reflected 
fairly,  with  but  little  variation  in  standards,  the  general  level  of  the  school  as  a  whole. 

EFFECTS  OF  THE  ELECTIVE  SYSTEM  ON  THE  TEACHES, 

The  development  of  the  elective  system  changed  this.  As  worked  out  in  Missouri 
this  scheme  of  curriculum  organization  makes  the  student  the  measure  of  the  teacher 
in  a  sense  difficult  to  justify.  Instead  of  a  group  of  students  working  systematically 
thru  an  orderly  plan  of  training  to  a  definite  goal  with  minds  on  the  content  of  their 
subjects,  the  instructor  faces  a  class  composed  of  individuals  who  have  selected  him 
out  of  several  possible  choices  that  would  advance  them  equally  toward  their  diploma, 

1  As  has  been  previously  noted,  the  teaching  body  at  Warrensburg  appears  to  have  larger  powers  in  some  respects 
than  is  the  case  in  the  other  institutions. 


£78  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

He  knows  that  In  many  cases  it  is  solely  his  reputation  with  previous  classes  that  has 
brought  them  there;  he  knows  that  unless  that  reputation  is  maintained,  that  unless 
his  course  can  be  given  a  savor  of  modernity  surpassing  those  of  his  competitors9  or 
unless  some  other  tangible  inducement  can  be  offered,  his  numbers  will  ebb  away  to 
the  bare  list  of  those  whom  circumstances  compel  to  elect  his  work.  The  immediate 
pressure  of  this  fate  is  felt  thru  its  effect  on  the  purse.  Not  that  one's  salary  will  be 
reduced  or  his  resignation  requested,  unless  the  condition  continues.  But  just  as  an 
increase  in  total  enrolment  is  expected  to  weigh  heavily  with  the  legislators  in  increas- 
ing the  biennial  appropriations,  so  it  is  claimed  that  the  size  of  individual  depart- 
ments operates  directly  with  the  boards  of  regents  in  halting  or  advancing  the  in- 
dividual salaries  in  the  schools.  Not  only  one^s  salary  but  one's  assistants,  equipment, 
class  accommodations,  and  indirectly  one's  prestige  depend  on  the  same  factor.  This 
general  charge  was  repeated  so  often  in  practically  all  of  the  schools,  and  with  such 
forceful  detail,  that  a  visitor  could  not  but  be  impressed.  The  lay  members  of  the 
boards  have  naturally  little  else  to  go  by  once  they  discard  a  president's  judgment  as 
sole  criterion,  and  under  certain  conditions  even  a  president  may  be  partial  to  a  teacher 
who  can  attract  and  hold  large  numbers. 

In  such  a  situation  each  teacher  is  faced,  as  is  the  president  in  his  larger  problem, 
by  a  struggle  with  his  conscience  as  to  what  is  educationally  sincere  and  honest.  Many 
teachers  have  undoubtedly  kept  their  professional  standards  high.1  But  in  case  one  is 
not  particular,  the  first  move  is  to  get  as  much  of  one's  work  as  possible  "required,"  or 
if  the  work  is  of  a  nature  to  make  that  impossible,  it  is  important  to  see  that  as  little 
of  other  teachers'  work  as  possible  is  so  protected.  If  faculty  discussion  and  votes  will 
bring  this  about,  a  formidable  contest  may  occur  periodically,  each  member  lining 
up  in  as  mechanical  a  fashion  as  in  any  political  machine,  while  the  interests  of  the 
student  in  the  point  at  issue  disappear  completely.2  If  courses  cannot  be  got  on  the 
"required"  list,  strategy  must  be  used  to  make  them  appeal  directly.  The  first  step 
to  this  end  is  to  admit  every  one  without  prerequisite.  In  the  announcements  for  1914— 
15,  when  this  study  was  begun,  genuine  prerequisites  for  any  but  mathematical  and 
language  courses  scarcely  existed.  A  member  of  what  is  perhaps  the  strongest  depart- 
ment of  history  in  all  the  schools  was  asked :  "  Does  your  department  offer  any  course 
in  the  four-year  college  curriculum  to  which  you  would  not  admit  a  'good  husky 
lad9  who  is  mature  and  well  along  in  his  secondary  work?"  He  replied  with  a  decided 

1  One  head  of  an  important  department,  one  of  the  best  trained  and  most  skilful  teachers  in  the  state,  was  found  to 
be  leaving  because  her  work  had  no  outlook.  She  had  insisted  rigorously  on  the  sequence  of  elementary  and  advanced 
courses  with  students  who  came  to  her,  whereas  other  departments  admitted  them  haphazard;  her  advanced  classes 
were  therefore  always  comparatively  small  and  her  position  seemed  permanently  restricted  as  to  recognition  and 
salary. 

2  This  situation  was  attested  by  experiences  of  members. of  the  enquiry  staff  at  faculty  meetings  in  two  schools.  In 
one  it  was  a  question  of  the  "  outs  "  reducing  the  work  required  in  the  departments  of  the  "  ins  " —English  and  Edu- 
cation—on the  ground  that  the  elective  departments  thus  had  too  little  "show.*'  There  was  considerable  feeling1, 
and  the  votes  of  the  two  sides  were  delivered  in  a  wholly  cut-and-dried  manner.  In  the  other  case  the  aged  and  re- 
spected head  of  the  Latin  department  arose,  and  with  tears  declared  that  other  teachers  had  been  discouraging: elec- 
tion in  his  department,  that  it  was  neither  fair  nor  honorable.  Certain  disclaimers  followed.  In  neither  case  was  there 
the  remotest  reference  to  the  real  issue  —  the  actual  or  probable  needs  of  the  student. 


THE  STAFF  279 

negative.  Not  only  are  courses  themselves  thus  leveled,  but  parts  of  courses,  which 
according  to  any, theory  of  good  teaching  should  be  taken  in  sequence,  are  thrown 
open  to  free  election  whenever  it  may  suit  the  convenience  of  the  student.  Thus 
second  or  third  term  English,  history,  physics,  chemistry,  geography,  and  agriculture 
may  find  half  of  the  class  consisting  not  merely  of  students  who  have  had  the  pre- 
ceding work  in  an  earlier  year,  but  of  complete  novices ;  or  a  first  term  class  may 
contain  several  who  have  already  had  the  second  or  third  term.  Another  device  is 
to  keep  repeating  term  after  term  courses  that  should  properly  be  given  but  once 
during  the  year;  this  makes  the  offering  of  a  department  seem  large,  even  tho  classes 
are  small,  and  gathers  in  a  few  extra  students,  who  otherwise  might  not  attend. 

It  will  be  readily  understood  that  under  such  conditions  an  instructor  is  not  likely 
to  be  too  discriminating  in  his  treatment  of  students.  Reinforcing  his  desire  for  a  large 
department  is  the  very  laudable  wish  to  help  belated  boys  and  girls  who  have  had  few 
advantages,  or  to  assist  others  who  "  must  get  thru  "  because  of  lack  of  funds  or  in  order 
to  take  a  certain  desirable  position.  These  considerations  are,  of  course,  the  only  ones 
that  ever  become  public.  Hence  arises  the  temptation  to  allow  credit  for  merely  nomi- 
nal work :  a  student  claims  to  have  done  this  or  that  under  the  direction  of  the  rural 
school  teacher  in  his  vicinity,  and  without  real  examination  is  allowed  credit,  particu- 
larly after  reading  an  extra  book  or  two,  or  writing  a  "paper;"  written  work  done  for 
another  course  or  in  another  school,  and  already  credited  there,  may  occasionally  be 
allowed  to  count;  when  but  one  or  two  register  in  a  class,  whole  courses  may  be  credited 
on  the  basis  of  work  done  chiefly  in  private  and  with  every  possibility  of  excessive 
credit.  Where  each  item  of  credit  is  important  in  making  up  the  main  account,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  a  student  goes  where  he  can  get  it  most  easily,  and  the  teacher  who  is 
most  liberal  becomes  perforce  the  popular  choice.  The  declaration :  "It  is  easy  enough 
to  save  time  here  ifyou  know  how  to  pick  your  work  "became  a  familiar  confidence  from 
students  prone  to  think  of  the  course  of  study  as  more  or  less  of  a  bargain  counter. 

There  is  no  way  of  telling  precisely  how  widespread  such  practices  are.  They  cer- 
tainly exist  to  an  extent  sufficient  to  provoke  the  deploring  criticism  of  such  teachers 
as  are  accustomed  to  better  standards,  and  it  is  evident  that  the  present  elective  sys- 
tem, together  with  administrative  laxity  in  matters  of  credentials  and  examinations, 
gives  them  every  opportunity  and  encouragement.  Furthermore  this  competitive  at- 
titude leads  naturally  to  jealousy  of  any  agency  set  up  to  deal  quickly  and  efficiently 
with  student  needs.  Where  a  registration  committee  exists,  its  members  are  suspected 
by  their  colleagues  of  guiding  students  so  far  as  possible  into  their  own  elective 
courses;  where  the  president  controls  the  registration,  the  possibility  of  such  jealousy 
arising  is  a  strong  deterrent  from  effecting  a  rational  distribution  of  duties.  At  Kirks- 
ville  the  system  of  student  advisers  was  opposed  by  some  teachers  lest  their  depart- 
ments suffer.  As  a  compromise  it  was  provided  that  the  new  student  choose  Ms  own 
adviser  out  of  a  wholly  strange  staff,  and  that  relations  begin  after  registration;  that 
is,  after  the  student's  chief  need  was  over! 


280  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

PBESENT  TENURE  OP  POSITION  UNJUST 

As  has  been  said,  the  normal  school  instructor  is  appointed  by  the  board  of  regents 
for  one  or  two  years  on  the  nomination  of  the  president.  This  term  of  tenure,  as  well 
as  that  of  the  presidents,  is  stipulated  in  the  law,  and  is  probably  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  board  itself  is  reorganized  with  each  biennial  renewal  of  two  of  its  mem- 
berships. As  a  principle  of  institutional  management  it  is  fundamentally  bad,  its  only 
alleged  justification  being  that  it  is  the  easiest  method  of  completely  cleaning  the 
slate  for  a  fresh  start.  Inasmuch  as  there  are  no  conceivable  circumstances  when  such 
a  process  is  necessary  or  wise,  the  effect  of  the  arrangement  is  to  turn  the  service  of 
excellent  public  officers  into  a  series  of  staccato  spurts  punctuated  with  threats,  "Good 
behavior  "  is,  of  course,  the  actual  term  of  office  in  most  cases,  and  it  should  be  so  ex- 
pressed. To  inform  an  undesirable  instructor  that  he  will  no  longer  be  needed,  and  to 
show  him  why,  requires  only  more  intelligent  courage  than  to  refuse  him  a  renomi- 
nation.  The  trouble  incurred  in  a  few  cases  is  a  small  price  to  pay  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  successful  teachers  in  a  position  of  security  that  cannot  fail  to  result 
in  substantially  better  work.  Few  teachers  whose  positions  are  subject  to  annual 
revision  will  plan  the  growth  of  their  departments  with  enthusiasm  for  a  large  and  dis- 
tant purpose.  The  public  that  wipes  out  the  list  each  year  and  reappoints  as  a  favor 
instead  of  as  a  right  must  rather  expect  that  teachers,  as  well  as  presidents,  will,  if 
possible,  do  the  immediately  spectacular  thing  to  catch  the  eye  and  ensure  the  next 
election.  Growth  thus  becomes  a  matter  of  short,  feverish,  and  often  conflicting  efforts 
for  recognition  instead  of  a  wholesome,  harmonious  development  of  the  school. 

Missouri  normal  school  teachers  are  elected  in  May.  This  is  the  practice  in  many 
educational  institutions,  but  more  from  force  of  habit  than  because  of  any  special 
advantage.  President  Baldwin  of  Kirksville  pointed  out  as  early  as  18751  that  such 
elections  should  occur  in  December,  when  the  necessary  data,  at  least  in  so  far  as  old 
teachers  are  concerned,  are  as  available  as  they  are  at  the  very  end  of  the  school  year. 
There  is  every  reason  to  adopt  this  suggestion.  If  teachers  must  be  elected  annually, 
they  should  be  definitely  assured  of  their  positions  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  It 
is  a  wholly  unnecessary  injustice  to  hold  academic  folk  who  are  dependent  upon  sea- 
sonal appointment,  in  suspense  until  their  chances  for  employment  elsewhere  are  gone 
or  greatly  reduced.  To  ensure  a  good  choice,  new  teachers  must  be  engaged  whenever 
they  can  be  secured;  granted  a  competent  president,  the  only  rational  policy  is  that 
of  colleges  of  good  grade,  namely,  to  make  the  president's  selection  equivalent  to  an 
appointment. 

A  further  reason  for  appointments  early  in  the  year  applies  especially  to  conditions 
as  they  now  exist.  Elections  of  the  major  portion  of  the  staff,  if  occurring  in  January 
or  February,  would  be  confirmed  by  relatively  experienced  boards  in  all  cases.  Under 
the  present  arrangement,  whenever  board  appointments  are  made  for  a  purpose,  that 

1  State  Report,  1875,  page  46. 


THE  STAFF  281 

is,  to  oust  a  president  or  certain  objectionable  teachers,  the  newly  reorganized  board9 
meeting  first  in  March  or  April,  with  usually  two,  and  possibly  three  or  four,  new 
members,  feels  compelled  to  take  hold  and  overturn  things  at  once.  Were  they  obliged 
to  wait  until  the  following  school  year,  the  intervening  contact  with  the  school  and 
its  personnel,  as  well  as  with  public  opinion,  would  certainly  result  in  added  discre- 
tion for  meeting  the  supposed  crisis,  and  abrupt  upheavals,  which  have  been  the  bane 
of  some  state-controlled  institutions,  would  be  less  likely  to  occur.1 

LEAVES  OF  ABSENCE  FOIL  STUDY  OK  EXPERIENCE 

Leaves  of  absence  for  study  may  be  taken  by  teachers  practically  at  any  time  de- 
sired, if  the  necessary  arrangements  can  be  made  for  handling  the  absentee's  courses. 
The  boards  are  uniformly  generous  in  holding  open  his  position,  but  he  is  under  no 
obligation  to  return  unless  he  wishes.  At  Springfield  the  further  step  has  been  taken 
of  supporting  for  three  months,  in  return  for  each  three  years  of  service,  a  teacher 
who  is  absent  for  study.  The  apparent  excellence  of  this  plan  is  marred,  however, 
by  the  fact  that  such  a  teacher's  absence  is  usually  at  the  expense  of  his  colleagues, 
who  are  asked  to  assume  his  courses,  no  substitute  being  secured.  One  naturally 
objects  to  profiting  on  these  terms,  which  are  a  palpable  injustice  to  all  concerned. 
That  every  teacher  should  make  adequate  provision  for  regular  periods  of  uninter- 
rupted study,  or  of  travel  and  observation,  as  the  case  may  require,  will  some  time 
be  as  definitely  demanded  as  is  now  a  considerable  initial  training.  It  is  a  matter  of 
ensuring  sufficient  high  reservoirs  of  power  to  make  the  daily  flow  spontaneous  and 
forceful.  It  is  not  likely,  however,  that  under  present  conditions,  provision  for  this 
can  be  expected  solely  from  the  teacher.  The  same  arguments  that  are  urged  in  favor 
of  contributions  for  retiring  allowances  apply  here  with  double  force,  for  the  present 
vitality  of  the  school  is  directly  involved.  It  would  not  be  unreasonable  to  expect  each 
teacher  to  put  aside  annually  a  given  amount  of  his  salary  for  use  in  a  periodically 
recurring  year  of  study,  the  school  contributing  the  major  share  of  the  expense  and 
releasing  him  at  as  frequent  periods  as  the  nature  of  the  arrangement  would  justify. 

Another  similar  obligation  of  the  school  toward  its  teachers  is  to  secure  an  inti- 
mate, oft-renewed  familiarity  with  the  conditions  of  teaching,  particularly  in  the  dis- 
trict or  region  served  by  the  institution.  This  need  is  two-fold.  To  be  successful  guides, 
teachers  must  have  fresh  conceptions  of  the  conditions  in  which  their  students  are 
to  work.  These  can  be  obtained  by  frequent  visits  among  the  schools,  and  by  talks 
with  returned  graduates.  In  each  of  two  successive  years  Maryville  has  conducted  a 
complete  canvass  of  its  district,  sending  its  teachers  from  school  to  school  to  study 
the  situation  of  each  teacher  and  to  ascertain  peculiar  needs  and  problems.  This  in 
some  form  should  be  a  constant  feature  of  every  normal  schoofs  annual  program.  But 

1  The  removal  of  the  president  at  Warrensburg-  in  1915  is  a  case  in  point  (see  page  47).  The  new  board  fell  on  its  prey 
at  its  first  meeting,  when  the  new  members  had  had  no  opportunity  whatever  to  become  familiar  with  the  real  sit- 
uation for  themselves.  It  is  at  least  doubtful  whether  affairs  would  have  taken  the  same  course  after  nine  months1 
acquaintance. 


282  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

the  greater  need  is  different.  Most  normal  school  teachers  have  had  some  experience  in 
teaching  elementary  or  high  school  classes  before  doing  normal  school  work.  As  the  lat- 
ter duties  fill  the  horizon  this  experience  fades  rapidly  into  a  dim  background;  subjects 
and  methods  of  approach  change,  and  a  teacher  ten  years  out  of  elementary  teaching 
may  easily  be  a  complete  stranger  in  a  rural  or  graded  school.  The  problems  have  be- 
come theoretical  and  academic,  and  have  lost  their  grim  and  vital  aspects.  To  prepare 
successful  teachers,  a  normal  school  should  not  permit  this.  Each  instructor  should  be 
able  to  convince  the  student  that  he  can  feel  the  problem  vividly,  and  that  he  under- 
stands how  to  teach  children  now.  Much  valuable  experience  for  this  purpose  could  be 
acquired  in  the  local  practice  school,  but  this  is  rarely  done  except  by  professional 
supervisors.  At  best  it  is  a  hothouse  reproduction  of  the  real  school;  usually  better, 
certainly  not  the  same.  A  supplementary  plan,  which  every  normal  school  could  adopt 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  would  give  each  teacher  a  frequent  turn  of  a  week  or  more 
in  a  neighboring  school  giving  some  instruction  himself,  studying  the  other  teachers  to 
observe  how  well  the  normal  school  was  doing  its  work,  noting  needed  modifications, 
and  in  general  establishing  direct  and  stimulating  relations  with  the  school.  From 
not  a  few  schools  it  would  be  entirely  worth  while  to  bring  in  exchange  a  first  class 
teacher  to  the  normal  school  for  a  similar  period  to  discuss  practical  problems  with 
young  students  there.  An  interchange  of  this  sort  would  keep  schools  and  training 
college  together  in  close  sympathy,  and  would  make  a  fossilized  faculty  impossible. 

ADMINISTRATIVE  USE  OF  PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING 

An  account  of  the  general  training  of  the  instructors  in  the  Missouri  normal  schools 
has  already  been  given.1  It  is  important,  however,  to  note  how  the  directors  of  these 
schools  utilize  the  training  of  their  teachers  from  an  administrative  point  of  view. 
The  questions  as  to  which  departments  deserve  the  best  trained  teachers,  which  de- 
partments shall  carry  the  highest  salaries,  what  distinction  as  to  training  and  salary 
shall  be  maintained  between  collegiate  and  secondary  teachers,  what  use  shall  be  made 
of  student-teachers,  and  finally  what  modifications  in  standard,  if  any,  shall  be  allowed 
for  summer  instructors  —  all  of  these  are  considerations  for  which  the  administrative 
officer  must  find  a  practical  solution. 

DEPARTMENTAL  DISTRIBUTION  OF  TRAINING 

So  far  as  amount  of  basic  training  is  concerned,  the  academic  groups  are  not  sharply 
distinguished  one  from  another.2  Of  sixteen  teachers  of  mathematics,  two  had  a  two- 
year  diploma  only,  and  one  had  none.  Agriculture,  history,  and  science  have  fared 
a  little  better:  of  thirty-nine  teachers  in  these  subjects,  only  one  held  a  two-year 
diploma,  and  but  one  was  without  a  diploma.  If  the  institutions  where  the  training  was 
secured  be  considered,  the  teachers  of  foreign  languages  stand  highest,  with  eighty- 
two  per  cent  of  their  number  from  first  class  schools ;  household  arts,  history,  and  agri- 

1  See  page  99.          2  See  page  421. 


THE  STAFF  283 

culture  are  also  relatively  high.  Foreign  language  teachers  lead  also  in  amount  of 
advanced  study. 

It  is  the  relation  of  professional  to  academic  subjects  that  possesses  the  chief  sig- 
nificance. Only  three-fifths  of  the  teachers  who  deal  with  the  special  subjects  peculiar 
to  the  normal  schools  have  a  training  of  four  years  or  more,  while  ninety-three  per 
cent  of  the  so-called  "academic"  teachers  have  collegiate  degrees,  forty-one  per  cent 
having  graduate  degrees  as  compared  with  nineteen  per  cent  in  the  professional 
group.  The  disparity  is  still  considerable  even  when  the  supervisors  are  separated  from 
the  regular  teachers  of  education,  but  no  rational  view  of  teacher- training  will  ac- 
knowledge the  justice  of  such  a  separation ;  instructors  charged  with  the  supervision 
and  criticism  of  students  in  their  first  actual  teaching  experience  should  be  no  less 
thoroughly  prepared  than  the  best  in  the  school  In  the  quality  of  their  training, 
furthermore,  the  instructors  in  education  are  noticeably  behind  their  academic  col- 
leagues, having  one-fourth  fewer  degrees  from  high  grade  institutions, 

To  a  critical  judgment  it  would  appear  that  if  contrast  must  exist,  these  relations 
should  be  exactly  reversed,  altho  there  is  no  reason  why  every  teacher  should  not  Tbe 
required  to  possess  or  obtain  an  adequate  training.  It  may  be  asserted  that  the  super- 
visors and  those  similarly  selected  have  the  equivalent  of  a  standard  training  in  their 
field ;  that  they  are  chosen  for  practical  experience  and  skill,  and  that  a  degree  would 
mean  little  or  nothing  in  their  cases.  That  this  is  the  theory  is  evident,  on  the  whole, 
by  reference  to  the  salaries  paid  the  two  groups.1  The  average  salary  paid  to  women 
supervisors  is  not  greatly  below  the  average  for  women  in  all  academic  subjects,  and 
the  average  for  men  teaching  education  is  second  from  the  top.  The  status  of  the  edu- 
cation department^  therefore,  tho  far  from  foremost,  is  apparently  intended  to  be 
about  the  same  financially  as  that  of  the  others.  This  being  the  case,  the  policy  pursued 
in  relation  to  the  training  required  seems  a  mistake.  The  fact  that  they  are  "prac- 
tical" chiefly  is  a  dangerous  recommendation  for  teachers  in  this  department  of  all 
others.  Practical  experience  is  wholly  indispensable,  but  in  a  field  that  is  only  just 
seeking  to  make  good  its  prerogatives,  a  field  whose  workers  should,  by  sheer  weight 
of  ability,  dominate  the  schools  they  serve,  a  thorough  general  education  is  of  coordi- 
nate importance.  Throughout  the  country,  speeches,  writings,  and  classroom  perform- 
ances of  a  slovenly  and  almost  illiterate  character  have  been  perpetrated  in  the  name 
of  "education"  by  persons  indebted  only  to  "practical  experience."  Crude  "surveys" 
and  "experiments"  are  submitted  as  scientific  contributions.  These  offerings  not  only 
seriously  injure  the  cause  of  specific  training  among  educated  people,  but  they  are 
worse  than  useless  in  their  immediate  effects.  Better  for  every  purpose  the  intelligent 
reactions  of  a  liberally  educated  mind  innocent  of  "methods55  than  the  undisciplined 
"professionalism'5  that  comes  from  half-educated  instructors.  Missouri  appears  to  have 
less  than  its  share  of  such  lapses  among  its  professional  corps,  but  the  tables  should  be 
completely  turned  in  the  other  direction. 

1  See  pages  285, 424. 


284  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

Before  leaving  the  general  topic  of  departmental  training  it  may  not  be  out  of 
place  to  indicate  certain  facts  as  to  experience  and  tenure.  Just  half  of  the  academic 
teachers  have  taught  in  normal  schools  for  more  than  five  years.  Among  teachers  of 
education  only  two-fifths,  and  among  the  supervisors  but  one-fourth, have  had  so  much 
experience;  one  may  conclude,  therefore,  that  instruction  given  by  the  professional 
staff  is  on  the  whole  less  maturely  developed  than  that  in  academic  departments. 
In  looking  thru  the  early  catalogues  one  is  impressed  with  the  number  of  teachers 
of  education  who  appear  to  have  been  drawn  directly  from  superintendencies  with- 
out special  training  in  education.  In  the  present  corps  of  fifteen  men  teachers  seven 
were  of  this  sort,  while  seven  had  supplemented  their  administrative  experience  with 
special  training;  only  one  had  had  no  administrative  experience. 

DEPARTMENTAL  DISTRIBUTION  OF  SALARIES 

A  table  in  the  Appendix1  presents  an  array  of  departmental  salaries,  the  details  of 
which  will  be  of  interest  chiefly  to  the  individual  schools.  All  instructors  are  included 
who  received  an  annual  salary  of  $800  or  more.  In  so  far  as  salary  can  measure  the 
quality  of  instruction,  the  table  may  be  considered  as  a  scale  of  the  values  attached 
by  the  school  authorities  to  the  work  of  the  respective  departments. 

At  Kirksville  it  appears  that  professional  instruction  draws,  pn  the  average,  one 
hundred  dollars  less  than  academ ic instruction;  at  Warrensburg  the  difference  is  over 
two  hundred  dollars,  while  at  Cape  Girardeau  it  is  but  seventy  dollars.  Springfield,  on 
the  contrary,  pays  its  professional  department  about  one  hundred  dollars  more  than 
the  others,  and  Mary ville  shows  a  similar  tho  smaller  balance.  The  second  would  ap- 
pear to  be  the  truer  policy,  provided  the  difference  represents  an  actual  balance  in 
weight  of  ability.  As  already  indicated  above,  it  is  impossible  to  have  a  first  class 
training  school  for  teachers  when  the  professional  department  is  of  relatively  inferior 
calibre;  and  the  salary  account  usually  measures  this  with  fair  accuracy. 

The  relative  value  assigned  to  the  various  departments  by  the  normal  schools  as 
a  group  appears  best  when  the  average  salaries  are  arranged  serially  as  shown  by  the 
table  on  page  £85.  This  table  makes  clear  the  remarkable  fact  that  financially  the 
teaching  of  pure  science  is  given  the  highest  rating  in  Missouri  normal  schools;  while  if 
the  different  scale  of  payment  for  men  and  women  be  taken  into  account,  the  Latin  (!) 
teachers  are  the  best  paid  of  the  men,  and  share  first  place  with  teachers  of  math- 
ematics among  the  women.  The  average  salary  of  instructors  in  education  stands  fifth 
in  a  series  of  eleven  groups,  and  if  the  supervisors  were  included,  it  would  stand  sixth 
($1505).  The  cost  of  critic  supervisors  by  themselves  is  next  to  the  lowest,  and  even 
among  the  women  rises  only  to  the  middle  of  the  series.  It  is  true,  to  be  sure,  that  the 
courses  in  education  draw  upon  many  departments,  as  well  as  upon  the  supervising 
staff,  but  these  courses  are  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  institution  and 
should  obviously  be  given  by  the  best  instructors  obtainable,  who  will,  in  general,  be 

1  See  page  424. 


THE  STAFF 


£85 


RELATIVE  IMPORTANCE  OF  DEPARTMENTS  AS  EXPRESSED  IN  THE 
ORDER  OF  AVERAGE  SALARIES 


Men 

Women                       \        Both  Men  and  Women 

NumbeTs  of 

Av.  Sal 

Av.  Sal  ) 

j                                          Av.  Sal. 

Men      Women 

Ancient  Languages    $1868 

Ancient  Languages    $1420 

Science                          $1735 

17              0 

Education                      1773 

Mathematics                 1490 

Ancient  Languages       1676 

4              3 

Science                          1735 

Modern  Languages      1400 

Agriculture                     1644 

11              0 

Mathematics                 1711 

Education                      1341 

Mathematics                   1635 

20              7 

Special  Subjects           1711 

English                            1336 

Education                        1573 

22            19 

English                          1657 

Supervision                    1335 

Government,  History, 

Agriculture                    1644 

Government,  History, 

and  Geography           1542 

29              8 

Government,  History, 

and  Geography          1335 

Modern  Languages        1483 

3              4 

and  Geography         1599 

Household  Arts             1301 

English                            1464 

14            21 

Modern  Languages      1593 

Special  Subjects           1197 

Special  Subjects             1425 

20            25 

Supervision                     1368 

1           31 

Household  Arts             1301 

0            11 

Extreme  Variation       $275 

$223 

$434 

those  most  highly  paid.  If  the  best-paid  teachers  are  unable  to  give  these  courses,  some- 
thing is  wrong,  and  the  school  where  this  is  true  is  not  what  it  purports  to  be.  It  is 
certainly  far  from  being  a  mere  coincidence  that  in  the  school  at  Springfield,  where 
the  relations  of  the  education  department  appeared  to  every  member  of  the  enquiry 
staff  to  have  been  most  satisfactorily  worked  out,  the  professional  group  should  be  re- 
ceiving more,  on  the  average,  than  the  academic  group,  even  tho  the  maximum  sala- 
ries were  surpassed  in  other  schools. 

SECONDARY  versus  COLLEGIATE  INSTRUCTORS 

In  spite  of  the  wide  field  of  instruction  ranging,  in  all  five  Missouri  normal  schools, 
from  the  first  year  of  high  school  to  the  fourth  year  of  college  work,  the  distinction 
between  secondary  and  collegiate  instructors  has  not  been  drawn,1  There  is  indeed  a 
consistent  difference  in  average  salary  as  the  college  work  increases.  But  the  number 
of  teachers  doing  college  work  alone  is  so  small,  except  at  Kirksville,  that  a  signifi- 
cant contrast  could  be  found  only  between  the  group  having  chiefly  college  work  and 
the  group  having  chiefly  secondary  work,  Here  the  average  salary  of  those  men  having 
more  than  one-half  of  their  work  in  college  classes  is  about  four  dollars  more  than  the 
average  salary  of  those  most  of  whose  work  was  in  secondary  classes ;  and  about  the 
same  thing  is  true  of  the  women.  As  marking  a  distinction  between  a  secondary  and 
a  collegiate  grade  of  work,  such  a  difference  is  hardly  important.  The  average  salary 
of  the  ten  women  doing  some  secondary  work  is  thirteen  dollars  more  than  that  of  the 
two  women  doing  college  work  only. 

Much  the  same  situation  appears  if  the  comparison  be  made  from  the  standpoint 
of  training.  For  example,  inspect  the  secondary  and  collegiate  student  term-grades 

1  See  pagre  425. 


286  OPEEATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

reported  by  the  thirty-two  men  and  nine  women  who  hold  masters1  degrees  or  higher, 
from  institutions  of  the  first  class,  or  a  similar  distribution  of  classes  taught  by  them 
in  the  school  year  ending  with  August,  1916.1  These  groups  of  best  prepared  teachers 
are,  it  seems,  finding  from  twenty-eight  to  forty-five  per  cent  of  their  classes  In  the 
secondary  field,  and  the  total  grades  reported  follow  closely  the  same  figures. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  good  administration  the  above  facts  are  as  conclusive  as 
any  that  could  be  cited  in  determining  the  character  of  the  work  done  in  these  schools. 
Teachers  that  are  continually  and  largely  busy  with  the  secondary  phases  of  instruc- 
tion, especially  when  their  programs  call  for  twenty  or  twenty-five  class  sessions  per 
week5  are  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  unfitted  for  what  all  collegiate  experience 
requires  of  college  teachers.  They  are  undoubtedly  much  above  the  average  of  high 
school  teachers;  they  are  quite  as  certainly  below  the  standard  of  the  collegiate  insti- 
tutions with  all  the  years  of  which  they  now  claim  to  compete.2  In  respect  to  teaching 
ability,  their  training,  their  environment,  and  the  very  fact  that  they  deal  so  constantly 
with  elementary  situations  probably  do  and  certainly  should  enable  them  to  out- 
rank the  younger  college  teachers.  But  to  expect  that  with  their  present  mixed  and 
overloaded  programs  they  should  be  qualified  to  conduct  advanced  instruction  suited 
to  the  junior  and  senior  college  years  would  be  absurd.  Any  one  familiar  with  the  real 
situation  knows  that  with  several  exceptions  they  are  not  so  qualified,  and  that  the 
four-year  collegiate  curricula  have  been  built  up  out  of  a  multiplicity  of  beginners' 
courses.  Conditions  cannot  be  good  until  the  collegiate  instructors  are  such  in  train- 
ing, program,  salary,  and  performance.  As  recommended  in  another  section,  if  length- 
ened curricula  are  to  be  offered,  or  even  if  first  class  work  is  to  be  done  in  the  one  and 
two  year  curricula,  the  teachers  who  have  been  appropriately  trained  should  be  re- 
lieved of  secondary  work  and  placed  in  their  proper  fields,  while  those  who  are  essen- 
tially secondary  teachers  should  discontinue  collegiate  instruction. 

PABT-TIME  AND  STUDENT  ASSISTANTS 

The  policy  pursued  with  reference  to  part-time  or  student  assistants  giving  instruc- 
tion during  the  regular  session  is  fairly  consistent  in  all  of  the  schools  except  at  Kirks- 
ville.  At  Cape  Girardeau  no  such  assistant  was  employed  in  I9I5-I6;  the  author- 
ities of  the  school  are  definitely  opposed  to  the  practice.  At  Warrensburg  three  were 
used,  one  for  one  term  to  teach  a  class  in  secondary  geometry;  one  for  the  year  as  a 
supervisor;  and  one  in  industrial  arts.  At  Springfield  there  was  none.  At  Maryville 

1  See  page  425. 

2  The  schools^  from  the  early  catalogues  down,  have  made  a  great  point  of  the  fact  that  their  high  school  students, 
and  even  the  *  suh-normal "  pupils,  have  had  the  advantage  of  the  "  best  teachers  "  in  the  school.  This  has  no  doubt 
been  very  fine,  hut  it  appears  to  have  completely  escaped  attention  that  the  instruction  of  college  students  at  the 
other  end  of  the  ladder  must  necessarily  be  correspondingly  impaired.  The  other  point  urged  in  favor  of  the  present 
policy  is  that  advanced  teachers  should  "  keep  in  touch"  with  elementary  and  secondary  instruction.  This  is  not 
to  be  disputed.  It  is  one  thing:,  however,  for  such  a  teacher  to  take  a  genuine  elementary  or  secondary  class  daily, 
weekly,  or  occasionally,  for  demonstration  or  practice ;  this  is  indispensable  for  every  effective  instructor  of  teach- 
ers. It  is  obviously  a  wholly  different  thing-  for  "  college  "  teachers  to  be  loaded  down  with  nondescript  secondary 
classes,  the  like  of  which  exists  nowhere  else,  and  which  serve  no  purpose  of  illustration  to  students  or  of  prac- 
tice for  the  teacher  himself. 


THE  STAFF  S87 

one  woman  taught  two  classes  in  secondary  mathematics,  and  one  gave  an  hour  a  day 
as  assistant  in  domestic  art. 

Kirksville  has  for  many  years  followed  a  different  plan.  Juniors  or  seniors  in  the 
four-year  college  curriculum  have  been  employed  for  small  fees  in  one  or  two  classes 
each  throughout  the  year.  In  the  regular  session  of  1915—16  there  were  nine  men  and 
six  women,  making  in  all  fifteen  such  teachers,  who  received  from  $10  to  $50  per 
month  for  their  services,  eight  drawing  $25  per  month  or  less.  Four  were  in  the  depart- 
ment of  manual  arts,  and  four  taught  music ;  the  remaining  seven  were  given  classes 
in  Latin,  history,  German,  agriculture,  photography,  commercial  subjects,  and  school 
management.  Except  for  one  who  taught  beginning  Latin  and  another  who  taught 
rural  school  management,  all  conducted  classes  attended  by  college  students.  During 
the  year  these  fifteen  student-teachers  reported  three  hundred  eighty- two  student 
grades  in  college  subjects,  three  hundred  thirty -eight  grades  in  subjects  open  to  both 
college  and  secondary  students  (manual  arts,  music,  and  so  forth),  and  three  hundred 
fifteen  grades  of  secondary  students.  It  is  clear  that  the  major  work  of  these  teachers 
was  with  college  students. 

The  ground  on  which  the  employment  of  student  assistants  may  be  justified  is 
chiefly  that  such  employment  furnishes  needed  financial  aid  for  students  wishing  to 
continue  their  studies ;  and  the  supposition  is  that  the  advanced  studies  they  desire 
to  pursue  are  of  a  nature  to  warrant  their  attendance,  while  the  work  for  which  they 
are  paid  is  presumed  to  be  of  service.  The  apparent  advantages  to  the  school  inciden- 
tal to  such  an  arrangement  are  important,  as  many  a  small  college  yearning  for  stu- 
dents has  discovered.  They  are  two-fold :  first,  the  services  of  such  instructors  cost 
but  little.  The  aggregate  weekly  class  hours  per  quarter  handled  by  the  fifteen  teachers 
at  Kirksville  numbered  three  hundred,  or  the  equivalent  of  nearly  four  teachers  work- 
ing to  the  Kirksville  standard  of  twenty  periods  per  week  for  the  full  eleven  months. 
At  the  Kirksville  average  of  $1591  for  academic  instructors  these  should  have  been 
paid  $6364,  whereas  they  received  less  than  that  by  $£71  £ — not  far  from  the  salary  of 
two  full-time  teachers.  Such  saving  enables  the  school  to  relieve  regular  instructors 
for  a  larger  offering  higher  up  in  the  curriculum,  where  these  same  part-time  teachers 
become  the  students,  thus  realizing  the  second  and  more  important  object  of  the  plan. 
fivery  institution  desirous  of  enlarging  its  scope,  whether  it  be  a  four-year  college  seek- 
ing to  add  graduate  work,  or  a  two-year  school  seeking  to  develop  collegiate  status^ 
has  difficulty  in  attracting  and  retaining  voluntary  advanced  students  when  its  fac- 
ulty and  material  facilities  remain  practically  unchanged.  Recourse  must  therefore  be 
had  to  other  means,  one  of  which  is  to  subsidise  capable  graduates  to  take  the  first 
and  second  year  courses  they  have  not  as  yet  had,  together  with  what  advanced  work 
can  be  laid  out  by  a  teacher  freed  by  their  help  in  lower  classes.  This  nucleus  attracts 
others.  Such  "pressure""  for  these  courses  is  presently  discovered  as  to  require  more 
teachers,  and  the  four-year  program  is  shortly  in  full  swing. 

Two  objections  make  against  the  wisdom  of  a  policy  of  this  sort.  There  is  every 


288  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

probability,  in  the  first  place,  that  longer  attendance  at  the  school  for  further  study 
is  not  in  the  best  interests  of  these  teacher-students.  They  have  finished  their  course, 
and  should  now  be  directed  where  genuine  advanced  courses  are  available  under  in- 
structors who  have  had  advanced  training  for  that  purpose.1  A  certain  type  of  student 
has  to  be  protected  against  himself  in  this  respect.  His  inclination  is  to  remain  in 
familiar  surroundings,  to  his  eventual  detriment.  The  school  should  here  consult  the 
ultimate  interests  of  its  graduates  in  their  preparation  for  public  service.  The  second 
consideration  is  still  more  obvious.  The  use  of  partly  trained  and  inexperienced  teach- 
ers in  lower  classes  as  a  lever  with  which  to  lift  the  school  is  plainly  opposed  to  the 
real  interests  of  the  major  portion  of  the  student  body,  who  for  years  to  come  will  be 
found  in  these  lower  grades  in  which  the  main  function  of  the  institution  centres. 
First  class  teaching  of  these  students  should  be  guaranteed  at  all  costs  and  at  every 
point.  The  school's  contact  with  the  great  mass  of  them  is  brief  at  best;  for  hundreds 
it  is  but  a  single  year.  What  shall  be  said,  then,  of  a  policy  that  introduces  student- 
teaching  at  this  point  in  order  that  the  beneficiaries  may  be  induced  to  remain  for 
a  junior  and  senior  year,  while  the  regular  instructors  are  relieved  from  the  service 
of  the  elementary  teacher  in  order  to  lengthen  the  curriculum  for  the  sake  of  the 
few  who  are  preparing  for  high  school  and  administrative  positions?2  The  lengths  to 
which  the  expense  of  this  elaboration  at  the  top  without  corresponding  financial 
support  may  drive  the  administrator  are  illustrated  at  Kirksville  in  the  department 
of  manual  arts,  where  for  a  prolonged  period  a  student-teacher  on  corresponding 
salary  was  given  full  charge,  and  while  thus  in  charge  received  credit  toward  his  de- 
gree for  "  practice  teaching,"  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  no  one  was  in  a  position 
to  supervise  his  efforts  save  the  head  of  the  institution.3  This  use  of  advanced  degrees 
to  pay  for  instruction  is  effective  in  creating  "  degree  classes,"  as  the  experience  at 
Kirksville  shows,  but  it  is  not  education. 

INSTRUCTORS  IN  THE  SUMMER  SESSION 

The  problem  of  securing  instructors  for  the  summer  session  is  a  critical  administra- 
tive concern.  The  question  is  not  so  much  one  of  finding  people  who  will  teach.  The 
colleges  and  universities  are  generally  closed,  and  both  their  advanced  students  and 
their  teachers  are  available;  superintendents  of  schools  find  a  lull  in  their  work  and 
can  often  be  had,  while  graduate  teachers  who  work  during  the  winter  in  the  schools 
come  flocking  back.  The  main  problem  is  to  find  teachers  of  requisite  experience  who 

1  This  is  not  to  be  construed  as  meaning:  that  three  and  four  year  curricula  should  not  be  offered.  As  explained  else- 
where, the  point  is  that  such  curricula  should  be  offered  only  by  fully  qualified  teachers  to  students  fully  prepared 
to  take  them. 

2  The  school  in  question  has  been  pronounced  in  its  condemnation  of  inadequate  training  for  elementary  teachers. 
To  quote  its  Bulletin  of  December,  1910,  page  9:  "  It  is  due  to  artificially  created  conditions,  largely  to  arbitrary  uni- 
versity domination,  that  the  abnormal  and  wasteful  discrimination  has  been  made  whereby  advanced  scholarship 
is  required  for  high  school  teachers  and  poor  scholarship  or  none  at  all  for  elementary  teachers."  It  is  difficult  to 
see  wherein  its  own  practice  is  essentially  different. 

3  This  lack  of  adequate  supervision  of  student-teachers  is  a  serious  defect  in  the  Kirksville  scheme.  The  situation 
is  irregularly  handled ;  some  are  apparently  given  careful  attention,  while  others  are  neglected,  often  teaching  at 
an  hour  when  their  superiors  are  busy,  thus  missing  them  altogether. 


THE  STAFF  289 

have  sufficient  training  in  education  to  fit  into  such  an  environment  and  maintain 
the  integrity  of  a  schooFs  standards.  Attendance  increases  eighty-two  per  cent,  the 
median  age  of  students  rises  from  twenty  in  the  regular  session  to  twenty-two  among 
those  attending  only  in  the  summer.  With  these  older  students,  who  are  usually  ex- 
perienced teachers,  collegiate  subjects  are  in  greater  demand  than  before.  At  the  same 
time,  a  large  portion  of  the  summer  attendance  is  made  up  of  seekers  for  "approved 
grades,"  which  can  be  written  in  on  their  certificates  in  lieu  of  examination.  Many  at- 
tend only  in  the  summer ;  many  more  get  their  first  experience  at  the  normal  school 
in  this  session.1  It  is,  therefore,  peculiarly  the  school's  duty  to  see  that  each  student 
finds  what  he  needs  in  the  best  form  in  which  it  can  be  provided. 

TRAINING  OF  SUMMER  INSTRUCTORS 

In  the  summer  of  1916  the  normal  schools  increased  their  staffs  temporarily  by  the 
employment  of  fifty  men  and  thirty-one  women.2  Three-quarters  of  them  were  natives 
of  Missouri,  and  more  than  four-fifths  had  their  secondary  training  in  Missouri.  The 
median  age  both  of  men  and  women  in  all  the  schools  together  was  twenty-nine;  at 
Warrensburg  it  was  twenty-six,  and  at  Mary  ville  thirty-seven. 

The  policies  adopted  by  different  schools  appear  markedly  divergent.3  One  school 
employed  college  graduates  except  for  one  who  had  attended  college  without  gradu- 
ating; seven  of  the  ten  were  from  first  class  institutions,  and  three  held  advanced  de- 
grees. Four  had  had  normal  school  training  also,  three  of  them  locally.  Another  school 
secured  teachers  more  than  half  of  whom  had  only  normal  school  training,  and  of 
those  who  had  college  or  university  experience,  only  half  had  taken  degrees,  while 
none  possessed  an  advanced  degree.  Only  about  half  of  the  entire  number  at  this 
latter  school  had  four-year  diplomas  of  any  sort.  Nineteen  of  the  twenty-seven  had 
been  trained  at  the  school  itself. 

The  professional  experience  of  these  summer  school  teachers  ranges  from  none  at 
all  to  twenty-six  years;  the  medians  run  as  follows:  Kirksville,  four;  Warrensburg, 
six;  Cape  Girardeau  and  Springfield,  seven;  and  Mary  ville,  ten  years.  Mary  ville  ap- 
pears to  have  used  her  well-trained  special  instructors  chiefly  for  secondary  students. 
Springfield  employs  high  school  teachers,  but  uses  them  largely  for  the  secondary 
classes,  for  which  they  are  presumably  fitted.  Earksville,  on  the  contrary,  turns  many 
collegiate  students  over  to  teachers  drawn  from  secondary  positions.4 

It  is  of  interest  in  the  above  connection  to  observe  to  what  extent  the  subjects 
taught  in  the  normal  summer  school  correlate  with  the  teacher's  work  during  the  year, 

1  Thirty-nine  per  cent  of  the  year's  enrolment  in  all  the  schools  in  1913-14  attended  a  normal  school  for  the  first 
time  in  a  summer  session.  This  is  nearly  as  many  as  begin  in  the  fall  —  forty -two  per  cent 

2  Thirteen  others  were  employed  from  whom  the  facts  of  training  could  not  be  obtained :  Warrensburg1,  seven ; 
Springfield,  four ;  and  Maryville,  two. 

3  See  page  426. 

4  Forty-two  per  cent  of  the  collegiate  student  grades  (762)  reported  by  the  special  summer  session  instructors  at 
Kirksville  were  reported  by  high  school  teachers  or  undergraduate  students.  At  Warrensburg:  the  proportion  was 
twenty-nine  per  cent,  at  Cape  Girardeau  twenty-five  per  cent,  at  Springfield  ten  per  cent,  and  at  Maryviile  twelve 
per  cent. 


290  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

tho  absence  of  such  a  correlation  is  not  necessarily  a  proof  of  lack  of  preparation  in  the 
subject  taught  in  summer.  Correlation  either  wholly  or  in  large  part  appears  in  from 
forty  to  eighty  per  cent  of  the  cases  in  the  various  schools.  Lack  of  such  correlation 
is  evident  when  a  superintendent  of  schools  who  regularly  teaches  American  history 
is  assigned  to  "General  Method"  and  "History  of  Education;"  when  another  who 
teaches  high  school  commercial  branches  in  the  winter  teaches  history  in  the  summer; 
when  a  teacher  of  high  school  physics  conducts  a  collegiate  class  in  stock-judging. 
Any  single  case  of  this  sort  of  shifting  may  be  wholly  explicable  and  proper;  but  a 
large  amount  of  it  makes  one  suspect  the  continued  vitality  of  the  ancient  normal 
school  doctrine  that  "a  normal  school  professor  can  teach  anything." 

HOURS  AND  SALARIES  OF  SUMMER  INSTRUCTORS 

The  schools  vary  considerably  in  the  extent  to  which  they  use  their  summer  teach- 
ers, as  well  as  in  the  salaries  they  pay  them.1  To  contrast  extremes  again,  one  insti- 
tution asks  its  summer  instructors  for  full  programs  in  eleven  out  of  twelve  cases, 
another  has  one-third  doing  full  work,  nearly  two-fifths  having  but  one  class  each, 
and  two-thirds  having  either  one  or  two  classes  only.  The  secret  of  this  is,  of  course, 
that  the  teachers  in  the  latter  school  are  largely  those  who  have  enrolled  for  courses 
"of  their  own,  hoping  in  many  cases  ultimately  to  secure  degrees.2  Of  the  two  schools 
quoted  above,  one  pays  none  of  its  instructors  less  than  four  dollars  and  pays  only  two 
of  them  less  than  five  dollars  per  weekly  hour;  whereas  the  other  pays  over  one-half  of 
its  extra  teachers  less  than  three  dollars,  and  only  about  one-fifth  receive  five  dollars 
or  more. 

CONTRASTING  POLICIES  OF  SUMMER  SESSION  ADMINISTRATION 

The  facts  presented  above  disclose  two  well-defined  policies  of  summer  school 
administration,  expressed  with  consistent  contrast  in  the  two  schools  to  which  allu- 
sion has  been  made.  The  school  at  Mary ville  provided  its  increased  summer  attend- 
ance with  experienced  teachers  of  mature  age,  trained  in  good  institutions  and  em- 
ployed at  respectable  figures,  to  give  their  full  time  instructing  in  fields  in  which  they 
were  regularly  engaged.  This  provision  was  made,  too,  not  only  for  college  students 
but  for  pupils  of  secondary  grade.  Assuming  that  as  good  judgment  was  used  in  selec- 
tion as  was  shown  in  fixing  conditions  of  employment,  the  students  at  Maryville  in 
the  summer  of  1916  had  unquestionably  superior  advantages;  it  is  apparent  that  the 
school  authorities  had  nothing  in  view  except  the  excellence  of  the  instruction  that 
could  be  furnished.  At  Kirksville,  on  the  other  hand,  such  teachers  were  engaged  as 
would  themselves  register  for  advanced  courses.  Of  the  twenty-seven,  eighteen  worked 
on  part  time  and  as  many  (fifteen  men  and  three  women)  were  enrolled  in  courses. 
Fewer  than  half  had  had  four  years  of  higher  schooling  from  any  source.  As  they  were 

1  See  page  427, 

2  Those  of  whom  this  is  true  are  noted  in  the  table,  page  427. 


THE  STAFF  £91 

mostly  part-time  instructors,  their  number  was  abnormally  large,  thus  swelling  the 
"faculty"  list,  while  their  presence  as  students  helped  to  fill  out  the  upper  classes  that 
would  eventually  take  degrees,  thus  heavily  emphasizing  the  senior  college  idea.  Altho 
themselves  but  juniors  or  seniors,  the  undergraduate  members  of  this  group  of  teachers 
turned  in  one  hundred  thirty-six  freshmen  or  sophomore  grades  in  such  subjects  as 
"Teaching  of  English,"  "Electricity,"  "Food  Preparation,"  and  so  forth.  At  Mary- 
ville, while  two-fifths  had  attended  a  normal  school,  and  a  third  of  the  group  had  at- 
tended Maryville,  none  had  had  normal  school  training  only;  at  Kirksville  well  over 
half  had  had  only  normal  training,  and  had  received  it  all  at  Kirksville,  while  over 
two-thirds  had  attended  there.  At  Maryville  the  professional  experience  (median 
years,  ten),  like  the  age  (median  years,  thirty-seven),  is  high,  and  the  salaries  paid 
are  sufficient  to  ensure  a  relatively  good  personnel;  at  Kirksville  a  median  of  four 
years'  experience,  including,  of  course,  all  kinds  of  teaching,  means  that  the  experi- 
ence in  higher  instruction  is  in  most  cases  nil,  while  the  salaries  are  cut  down  be- 
cause the  opportunity  can  be  made  attractive  by  giving  credit  toward  a  degree. 

On  the  whole,  the  situation  at  Maryville  impresses  one  as  a  sincere  attempt  to  solve 
the  educational  problem  for  its  students  in  their  interests;  the  administration  at 
Kirksville,  on  the  other  hand,  leaves  the  impression  of  constant  and  skilful  manipu- 
lation not  in  the  real  interests  of  the  students,  but  to  build  up  on  a  limited  budget 
the  kind  of  institution  that  this  particular  school  long  since  set  out  at  all  costs  to 
become.  Strategy  for  this  purpose  finds  unusual  scope  in  the  summer  session.  It  is  flat- 
tering for  a  young  teacher  or  superintendent  within  measurable  distance  of  his  degree 
to  be  asked  to  give  instruction  where  he  has  just  been  or  still  is  a  student.  It  is  attrac- 
tive even  to  the  normal  school  graduate  who  now  ranks  as  an  alumnus  to  be  recalled 
thus  early  to  his  alma  mater.  By  giving  each  a  class  or  two  only,  these  favors  can  be 
multiplied,  and  by  passing  them  out  with  discernment,  one  can  reward  faithful  sup- 
porters, win  the  interest  of  those  who  are  wavering,  or  even  invade  hostile  territory. 
Some  superintendents,  when  so  attached,  bring  with  them  to  the  school  a  whole  train 
of  their  admiring  teachers  and  students.  Thus  the  plan  increases  the  attendance, 
relieves  the  regular  teachers,  reenforces  the  upper  classes  and  the  degree  list,  popu- 
larizes the  school,  cuts  down  the  expense,  and  keeps  the  influential  teachers  of  the 
region  at  the  school  and  away  from  the  university  or  other  higher  institutions  where 
they  ought  now  to  be — all  obviously  good  business,  tho  again  unfortunately  not 
education. 

Whatever  may  be  true  of  a  college,  the  summer  session  of  a  professional  school., 
altho  subordinate  to  such  a  school's  main  function,  is  a  responsibility  that  can  neither 
be  exploited  nor  neglected.  It  is  a  general  observation  of  all  professional  schools, 
thoroughly  substantiated  by  theory,  that  practitioners  of  some  experience,  coming  for 
study  at  intervals  in  their  practice,  work  with  greater  insight  and  profit  than  do  com- 
plete novices.  The  latter  are  working  up  their  initial  speed,  as  it  were,  while  the  former 
are  simply  increasing  their  momentum.  Among  teachers  the  economic  situation  makes 


OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

it  necessary  to  provide  the  best  possible  opportunities  for  study  during  the  summer. 
It  is  not  primarily  for  the  sake  of  the  teachers, but  for  the  schools  in  which  they  will 
teach,  that  the  summer  school  facilities  should  be  as  fine  in  quality  and  as  well  organ- 
ized as  it  is  possible  to  make  them.  Haphazard  experiments  can  no  more  be  risked  dur- 
ing the  summer  than  at  any  other  time  in  the  year.  The  natural  difficulty  of  giving 
each  of  the  many  new  applicants  what  he  needs  is  great  enough  without  in  addition 
sacrificing  the  quality, 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  furthermore,  that  the  attendance  at  the  summer  ses- 
sion has  been  greatly  stimulated  by  the  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  seekers  of  cer- 
tificates to  get  their  "approved  grades"  at  the  normal  schools  instead  of  by  examina- 
tion, and  that  on  the  strength  of  these  enormous  summer  enrolments  in  the  secondary 
and  junior  collegiate  fields  the  normal  schools  have  been  steadily  demanding  increased 
aid  from  the  state.  To  a  candid  observer  it  may  fairly  seem  like  a  misappropriation 
of  such  funds  when  by  an  administrative  trick  the  instruction  of  those  in  whose  inter- 
est the  aid  Is  granted,  Is  cheapened,  and  the  funds  are  diverted  to  a  purpose  which, 
however  gratifying  to  the  administration,  is  certainly  much  less  important  to  the 
state.  If  senior  college  instruction  is  given,  It  must  certainly  be  given  by  amply  trained 
and  otherwise  qualified  teachers.  If,  however,  such  advanced  instruction  can  be  pro- 
vided only  at  the  cost  of  reducing  the  quality  of  the  instruction  given  to  the  lower 
classes  below  the  level  of  that  in  a  first  class  city  high  school,  then  a  sincere  institu- 
tion will  have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 


B.  THE  STUDENT  BODY:  SIGNIFICANT  FEATURES  IN  SELECTION,  ORGANIZATION,  AND 

ADMINISTRATIVE  TREATMENT 

1.  Men  as  Normal  School  Students 

Shortly  after  the  establishment  of  the  Missouri  normal  schools,  three-fifths  of  the 
students  were  men;  at  present,  two-thirds  are  women.  Among  the  students  In  the  reg- 
ular session  the  men  doing  secondary  work  number  thirty-eight  per  cent  or  nearly 
two-fifths,  while  of  the  collegiate  attendance  a  little  over  one-fourth  are  men.  In  the 
summer  session  the  proportion  of  collegiate  men  drops  to  one-fifth.1 

MOTIVES  IN  MALE  ATTENDANCE 

Light  is  thrown  on  the  character  of  this  male  attendance  by  a  consideration  of  the 
motive  by  which  it  is  actuated.  Four-fifths  of  the  men  attending  the  schools,2  when  they 
were  visited,  reported  their  intentions  as  to  teaching,  and  of  these  seventy-eight  per 
cent  stated  that  they  had  no  intention  of  teaching  permanently,  altho  seventy-five 
per  cent  said  they  expected  to  do  some  teaching.  Of  the  women  one-half  stated  that 
they  did  not  intend  to  teach  permanently.  This  fact  should  occasion  no  surprise,  inas- 

1  This  is  for  the  summer-only  group ;  of  the  entire  summer  attendance  the  collegiate  men  constituted  22.8  per  cent. 
*  Information  secured  at  Kirksville,  Warrensburg,  and  Maryville  only.  See  page  434. 


MEN  AS  NORMAL  SCHOOL  STUDENTS  S93 

much  as  the  tenure  of  women  teachers  is  traditionally  terminated  by  marriage,  which 
is  normally  expected  by  the  majority  both  of  men  and  women.  For  this  reason  possibly 
the  proportion  is  about  the  same  among  collegiate  and  secondary  women.  But  that 
nearly  eighty  per  cent  of  all  the  men  students  replying,  and  a  still  larger  proportion  of 
the  secondary  group,  should  admit  that,  altho  attending  a  school  supported  by  the 
state  for  the  purpose  of  training  teachers,  they  expected  to  make  teaching  but  a  tem- 
porary stage  on  the  way  to  a  permanent  occupation,  is  certainly  a  situation  of  great 
significance. 

REACTION  OF  MALE  ATTENDANCE  ON  THE  INSTITUTION 

It  cannot  be  said,  of  course,  that  it  is  any  worse  to  prepare  men  than  it  is  to  pre- 
pare women  for  temporary  positions  as  teachers;  the  chances  are  that  the  men  will 
have  as  long  a  tenure  as  do  a  large  number  of  the  women.  The  importance  of  the  fact 
lies  not  in  the  brief  tenure  of  the  men  trained,  but  in  the  reaction  that  their  pres- 
ence entails  upon  the  institution  itself.  Women  may  be  prepared  as  specifically  as 
possible  for  their  work,  precisely  because  it  is  their  principal  vocational  outlook ;  in 
general,  except  in  large  urban  centres,  educated  women  either  teach  or  many,  and 
even  in  the  latter  case  their  training  for  teaching  is  still  of  value,  tho  perhaps  not  so 
valuable  as  some  other  form  of  training  might  have  been.  A  man,  however,  who  has 
definitely  pledged  himself  to  medicine,  law,  or  business,  and  thinks  of  teaching  solely 
as  a  potboiler,  or  one  who  is  merely  convinced  of  his  discontent  with  teaching  and 
is  open  to  conviction  as  to  what  is  better  worth  doing — either  of  these  is  attracted 
by  the  normal  school  as  the  cheapest  form  of  credit-granting  institution^  with  the 
advantage  of  its  sponsorship  for  the  needed  teaching  position  thrown  in.  To  this 
class  of  student  a  prescribed  curriculum,  enforced  prerequisites,  and  above  all  re- 
quired courses  dealing  thoroughly  with  teaching  are  objectionable;  while  the  "prov- 
ing up"  system,  where  each  is  credited  liberally  "on  his  merits"  without  too  much 
examination,  the  plan  of  free  election,  and  a  minimum  of  required  "pedagogy"  are 
just  the  thing.  Work  that  will  not  count  as  credit  in  college  or  university  must  be 
avoided,  and  all  courses  must  be  as  "academic"  as  possible.  These  well-known  pre- 
ferences of  men  students  tally  fairly  well  with  the  policies  of  the  Missouri  normal 
schools,  and  one  has  only  to  visit  the  schools,  read  their  literature,  and  talk  with 
their  officers,  to  realize  that  a  cardinal  principle  of  their  operation  has  been  to  retain 
men  at  all  hazards. 

Ostensibly  the  reason  for  the  efforts  to  attract  men  to  the  institutions  is  to  "retain 
men  in  the  profession,"  a  laudable  purpose,  but  one  that  receives  an  unexpected  twist 
in  its  working  out.  It  is  the  elementary  schools  primarily  that  have  lost  men  teachers; 
high  schools  in  Missouri  employ  men  in  over  one-third  of  their  teaching  positions,  and 
the  principals  and  superintendents  are  very  generally  men.  When,  therefore,  the  normal 
schools  appeal  for  facilities  whereby  they  may  "retain  men  in  the  profession,"  what 
they  really  mean  to  say  is  that  they  should  be  enabled  to  prepare  men  for  high  school 


OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

and  administrative  positions  — two  aims  that  are,  of  course,  quite  unlike  that  which 
governs  the  bulk  of  their  effort,  and  require  different  curricula  and  equipment.  This 
latent  purpose  is  shown  clearly  in  the  type  of  school  chosen  by  those  who  "intend 
to  teach  immediately  on  leaving  this  school,"  as  the  question  ran.1  Thirty-four  per 
cent  even  of  those  men  who  have  not  yet  finished  their  own  high  school  studies  have 
their  eye  on  high  school  or  administrative  positions,  while  over  four-fifths  of  the  men 
in  the  normal  school  proper  expect  such  work,  tho  it  be  only  as  a  temporary  employ- 
ment. The  actual  records  of  the  graduates  show  the  same  result. 

It  is  the  unavoidable  conclusion  from  all  the  evidence  that  a  desire  on  the  part  of 
the  normal  schools  to  retain  their  men  has  been  not  only  a  leading  factor  in  develop- 
ing such  methods  and  policies  as  should  make  it  easy  for  men  to  enter  and  profitable 
for  them  to  remain,  but  also  that  it  has  been  primarily  responsible  for  the  change  of 
emphasis  from  the  elementary  to  the  high  school  teacher.  The  latter  required  nor- 
mally four  years  of  college  work,  an  expansion  that  would  afford  ample  opportunity, 
on  a  free  elective  basis,  for  enough  academic  work  to  hold  the  average  man  who  had 
once  enrolled.2  At  the  same  time,  the  accepted  preparation  of  a  high  school  teacher 
was  everywhere  loose  enough  professionally  to  enable  a  man  to  ignore  the  teaching 
courses  to  a  very  considerable  extent.  The  outcome  of  this  development  was  the 
"college"  idea,  pure  and  simple,  for  advanced  students.  With  this  once  established 
for  the  sake  of  the  men,  women  naturally  availed  themselves  of  it,  aided  therein  by 
the  encouragement  of  the  school  authorities,  until  to-day,  of  the  group  of  collegi- 
ate normal  school  women,  forty-five  per  cent  avow  themselves  as  prospective  high 
school  teachers,  together  with  eighteen  percent  of  the  women  still  doing  secondary 
work.3 

This  policy  may  have  had  some  effect.  Kirksville,  the  school  that  has  followed  the 
plan  most  vigorously,  has  kept  a  proportion  of  collegiate  men  as  high  as  thirty-two 
per  cent;4  and  Cape  Girardeau,  a  school  that  has  also  laid  great  stress  on  it,  even  offer- 
ing curricula  wholly  free  from  professional  flavor,  has  retained  still  more,  having 
thirty-three  per  cent.  Warrensburg,  Springfield,  and  Maryville,  on  the  other  hand, 
schools  that  until  recently  concerned  themselves  very  specifically  with  the  elementary 

1  See  page  434. 

2  A  question  put  to  the  students  at  all  schools  furnishes  unexpected  light  at  this  point.  "  What  have  you  found  to 
be  the  most  valuable  feature  of  this  school  for  your  purpose?"  was  a  question  taken  advantage  of  by  many  students 
to  express  preference  for  various  departments.  Forty  per  cent  of  the  college  men  declared  for  the  "academic  work" 
as  compared  with  thirteen  per  cent  of  the  college  women.  Of  the  latter,  fully  one-half  voted  for  "professional  work" 
as  the  most  valuable  feature. 

3  A  memorandum  from  the  sixty-hour  (i.e.  two-year)  class  of  1915  at  Kirksville,  prepared  by  the  class,  contains  a  state- 
ment as  to  "Character  of  positions  sought  for  next  year,**  as  follows:  "Superin tendencies,  6;  principalships,  4;  his- 
tory teachers,  7 ;  English  teachers,  7;  mathematics  teachers,  6 ;  music  teachers,  6 ;  Latin  teachers,  2 ;  science  teachers. 
2;  agriculture  teachers,  2;  manual  arts  teachers,  2 ;  domestic  science  teachers,  2;  physical  education  teachers,  1;  com- 
merce teachers,  1 ;  bookkeeping  teachers,  1 ;  elementary  school  teacher,  1;  primary  teachers,  1;  primary  supervisor, 
1;  undecided,  3."  The  elementary  school  comes  poorly  off  with  two  in  a  group  all  of  whom  have  barely  sufficient 
training  to  meet  standard  requirements  for  elementary  school  work. 

4  The  outcome  of  this  emphasis  at  Kirksville  is  even  more  noticeable  in  the  product  of  the  school.  While  preparing 
one-fifth  of  the  rural  teachers  trained  at  normal  schools,  and  less  than  one-sixth  of  the  teachers  in  graded  elemen- 
tary schools  so  trained,  Kirksville  is  credited  with  twenty-seven  per  cent  of  the  first  class  high  school  group  (see 
page  439)  and  over  forty  per  cent  of  the  superintendents  in  first  class  systems  who  attended  normal  schools  (see 
page  378).  The  latter  were  all  men. 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  SECONDARY  STUDENT  295 

problem  even  tho  many  of  their  graduates  became  high  school  teachers,  show  a  pro- 
portion of  collegiate  men  students  of  twenty-five,  twenty-six,  and  twenty-two  per 
cent  respectively.  All  things  considered,  it  seems  quite  probable  that  if  prescribed 
curricula  prepared  solely  for  the  purpose  of  training  efficient  teachers  for  various 
fields  of  service,  secondary  included,  and  definitely  committing  a  candidate  to  that 
service,  should  be  introduced  in  the  Missouri  normal  schools,  the  numbers  of  men  in 
attendance  would  be  very  greatly  reduced  by  the  disappearance  of  those  who  were 
using  the  schools  merely  for  personal  advancement.  This  has  been  the  case  In  other 
schools  that  have  had  the  courage  to  prefer  a  high  standard  of  professional  training 
to  the  weak  popularity  of  a  nondescript  college.  The  bonajide  male  candidates  that 
remained  could  then  be  given,  In  selected  schools,  differentiated  curricula  suitable  for 
their  work  in  high  school  instruction  or  in  school  administration. 


%.  Problem  of  the  Secondary  Student 

A  second  problem  in  the  selection  of  students  confronts  the  normal  school  in  the 
question  of  its  attitude  toward  students  of  secondary  grade.  This  is  a  question  that 
depends  partly  on  the  normal  school's  conception  of  its  function  as  an  educational 
Institution,  and  partly  on  the  general  policy  of  the  state  as  expressed  in  its  legisla- 
tion relating  to  teachers'5  certificates  and  Its  appropriations  for  purposes  of  training. 
From  the  Institutional  point  of  view  the  problem  is  difficult  because  of  its  radical 
nature.  For  thirty  years  the  normal  schools  were  almost  wholly  secondary  institutions 
in  so  far  as  any  current  generic  term  can  be  applied  to  them.  Since  1900  they  have 
grown  steadily  and  firmly  Into  professional  institutions  of  collegiate  character.  The 
question  now  is  what  to  do  with  the  remnants  of  past  practice.  Familiar  association 
and  administrative  habit  cling  to  the  past,  while  freedom  and  progress  require  ad- 
justment to  the  present  and  future.  A  complete  abandonment  of  secondary  work  In 
normal  schools  will  come  in  time;  should  It  be  brought  about  at  once? 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  EXTREME  AGE  GROUPS 

There  are  in  all  the  schools  over  two  thousand  secondary  students  in  the  regular 
sessions,  and  seventeen  hundred  more  in  the  summer.  Twenty-five  hundred  are  women, 
and  over  a  thousand  are  men.  What  are  their  distinguishing  traits  ?  Inasmuch  as  a 
wide  range  of  age  Is  the  essential  feature  of  the  problem  that  they  present,  it  is  best 
for  the  sake  of  clearness  to  Ignore  the  Intermediate  ages  of  nineteen  and  twenty,  which 
represent  a  natural  transition  between  the  extremes,  and  to  compare  the  younger 
group  directly  with  the  older.1  About  fifteen  hundred  are  twenty-one  years  of  age  or 
more — enough  by  themselves  to  fill  two  large  high  schools.  They  number  one-third 

1  Distinction  in  nationality  is  scarcely  perceptible.  The  question  of  town  or  country  breeding  is  also  negligible ; 
the  older  group  has  eight  per  cent  more  men  from  the  country.  Parental  income  exhibits  the  expected  tendency : 
from  nearly  seven  hundred  answers,  it  is  clear  that  the  older  and  more  retarded  students  are  from  less  well-to-do 
homes. 


OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

of  the  secondary  students  in  the  regular  session  and  over  half  of  the  "  summer-only'"* 
attendance.  Four-fifths  of  them  attend  In  the  spring  or  summer  quarters  when  their 
schools  are  closed.  On  the  other  hand,  nearly  half  of  the  secondary  students  attend- 
ing the  regular  session  are  but  eighteen  years  old  or  less  ,  while  in  the  summer  group 
fewer  than  one-quarter  are  so  young.  The  proportion  of  boys  under  nineteen  is  over 
one-third  in  the  fall,  winter,  and  spring,  but  falls  to  one-sixth  in  the  summer.  It  is 
evident  from  this  that  the  secondary  students  of  the  regular  session  are  predomi- 
nantly of  secondary  school  age,  while  the  over-age  students  of  secondary  grade  attend 
the  normal  schools  chiefly  in  their  interims  of  teaching. 

GrEOGRAPHICAX,  DISTRIBUTION 

The  first  unmistakable  evidence  of  divergence  between  these  older  and  younger 
students  appears  in  the  relative  distance  from  which  they  come  to  school.  Only  one- 
fifth  of  the  older  group  is  local  to  the  county,  while  nearly  half  of  the  younger  group 
comes  from  the  same  county ;  three-fifths  of  the  older  students  come  from  beyond  the 
adjacent  counties,  while  but  one-third  of  the  young  students  are  so  derived.  At  Spring- 
field only  nine  per  cent  of  the  over-age  men  are  local,  while  at  Kirksville  over  one- 
third  are  so ;  but  the  younger  group  is  more  restricted  locally  than  the  older  in  each  of 
the  five  schools,  altho  to  a  less  degree  in  the  summer  than  during  the  regular  session. 
This  independence  with  regard  to  locality  on  the  part  of  the  older  secondary  students 
is  of  importance  in  arriving  at  a  solution  of  their  needs ;  it  is  evident,  as  one  would 
expect,  that  they  constitute  a  self-determined  group,  are  less  influenced  than  younger 
students  by  local  suggestion,  and  would  probably  go  anywhere  in  the  state  for  their 
training  almost  as  readily  as  they  seek  the  normal  school  in  their  own  district. 

PREVIOUS  SCHOOLING 

More  of  the  older  secondary  men  students  than  of  the  younger  have  attended  rural 
schools,  but  the  women  show  almost  no  difference.  The  record  of  high  school  attend- 
ance is  hardly  what  one  would  expect.  In  the  total  attendance  at  the  regular  session 
of  191 3— 14,  forty-seven  per  cent  of  the  younger  students  as  compared  with  twenty-six 
per  cent  of  the  older  had  never  attended  high  school  elsewhere  (women,  fifty-four  per 
cent  to  twenty-two  per  cent).  But  among  students  attending  only  in  the  summer  the 
condition  is  reversed,  and  fifty-nine  per  cent  of  the  over-age  students  as  compared  with 
nineteen  per  cent  of  the  younger  students  had  never  been  at  high  school  elsewhere.  In 
general  these  figures  cast  some  doubt  upon  the  supposedly  essential  service  of  the  nor- 
mal school  to  the  older  student  who  was  presumed  to  be  without  other  school  priv- 
ileges, and  indicate  that  it  has  been  recruiting  heavily  among  such  boys  and  girls  as 
should  properly  be  in  high  school. 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  SECONDARY  STUDENT  2>97 

OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  HIGH  SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE 

In  order  to  determine  further  the  relation  of  the  normal  school  student  to  the  high 
school  situation,  the  students  at  each  normal  school  when  It  was  visited  were  asked 
whether  there  had  been  a  three  or  four  year  high  school  within  convenient  reach  of 
their  homes.  According  to  their  replies  the  age  group  under  nineteen,  which  formed 
forty-five  per  cent  of  all  the  secondary  students,  had  four-year  high  schools  accessi- 
ble in  over  half  of  the  cases;  about  three-fifths,  if  three-year  high  schools  be  included. 
In  the  decade  after  1906  the  number  of  classified  high  schools  in  Missouri  increased 
from  two  hundred  thirty-one  to  five  hundred  thirty-five — considerably  more  than 
double ;  and  the  number  of  first  class  high  schools  had  increased  over  two  hundred 
seventy-five  per  cent,  rising  from  sixty-three  to  two  hundred  thirty-six.1  In  1918  but 
eleven  of  the  one  hundred  fourteen  counties  in  the  state  lacked  a  standard  four-year 
high  school,  and  four  of  these  had  standard  three-year  high  schools ;  two  only  were 
without  a  recognized  two-year  high  school.  In  eighty-four  of  these  counties,  in  one 
hundred  two  schools,  the  state  had  established  training  centres  for  rural  school  teach- 
ers; such  opportunities  are  therefore  well  distributed. 

TEACHING  EXPERIENCE 

Experience  data  should,  of  course,  show  that  more  of  the  older  than  of  the  younger 
students  have  taught.  They  show  this ;  but  they  show  also  that  an  astonishingly  large 
number  (thirty-eight  per  cent)  of  the  older  secondary  men  have  thus  far  had  no  con- 
nection with  a  school  as  teachers.  Altho  at  Springfield  only  one-sixth  of  the  older 
men  have  had  no  teaching  experience,  at  Kirksville  the  proportion  is  three-fifths. 
What  have  these  mature  individuals  been  doing  ?  Are  they  belated  farmers'  boys  using 
the  normal  schools  now  to  get  a  general  education?  Remembering  that  ninety  per 
cent  of  all  the  secondary  men  at  Kirksville  declared  that  they  had  no  intention  of 
teaching  permanently,  this  seems  to  be  a  reasonable  conclusion. 

QUALITY  OF  THE  OLDER  SECONDARY  STUDENT 

A  further  item  possibly  throws  some  light  on  the  quality  of  the  over-age  student. 
Large  claims  have  been  based  upon  the  maturity  of  the  students  who  frequent  the 
normal  school,  particularly  as  a  justification  for  shortening  the  secondary  course, 
"  doing  three  terms1  work  in  two,"  and  so  forth.  Cases  occur  of  active,  self-educated 
students  completing  in  a  few  months  the  formal  requirements  that  usually  consume 
years,  and  the  inference  is  that  maturity  is  of  itself  the  enabling  factor.  If  true,  this 
ought  apparently  to  show  in  the  number  of  programs  with  excess  hours  permitted 
to  older  secondary  students  because  of  superior  ability.  With  important  exceptions, 
this  advantage,  where  it  exists,  is  surprisingly  small.  Analysis  of  the  secondary  pro- 
grams in  the  regular  session  of  1 913-14  shows  that  fourteen  per  cent  of  the  term 

1  State  Report,  1916,  page  68. 


298  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

programs  taken  by  the  younger  group  consisted  of  twenty-five  weekly  periods  or 
more,  while  but  fifteen  per  cent  of  the  programs  taken  by  the  older  students  were  as 
heavy.  Among  the  men  alone  the  younger  students  have  actually  a  slight  advantage. 
At  Kirksville,  Warrensburg,  and  Maryville  the  proportion  permitted  to  take  excess 
hours  is  so  small — two  or  three  per  cent — that  the  figures  signify  little.  At  Cape 
Girardeau,  however,  where  the  restrictions  that  hedge  excessive  student  programs  at 
the  other  schools  had  not  been  applied,  fifty-nine  per  cent  of  the  over-age  men  take 
twenty-five  hours  or  more,  as  compared  with  sixty-seven  per  cent  among  the  men 
under  nineteen.  Among  the  women  the  balance  is  reversed,  but  the  difference  is  small. 
At  Springfield  eleven  per  cent  of  the  older  take  twenty-five  hours  or  more  as  against 
nine  per  cent  of  the  younger.  In  the  summer  session,  however,  a  number  of  capable, 
ambitious,  and  experienced  teachers  appear  and  take  all  the  credit  available;  hence 
the  older  students  outdo  the  younger  by  several  points  on  programs  of  twenty-five 
hours  or  more — Cape  Girardeau :  twenty-five  to  fourteen  per  cent;  Springfield :  twelve 
to  four  per  cent.  These  facts,  if  typical,  may  warrant  the  conclusion  that  the  older  sec- 
ondary students  in  the  regular  session  are  on  the  whole  a  duller  group,  possibly  some- 
what parasitic  on  the  school  in  their  efforts  to  get  a  better  job,  and  probably  worthy 
of  less  attention  than  has  heretofore  been  given  them.  Studies  of  student  performance 
at  both  Columbia  and  Harvard  Universities  would  make  this  inference  appear  reason- 
able.1 The  summer  session,  on  the  contrary,  deals  with  a  mature  but  selected  group 
of  workers  stimulated  by  a  sharper  vocational  motive. 

TREATMENT  OF  THE  YOUNG  SECONDARY  STUDENT 

The  wide  differences  in  age  among  secondary  students  seem  to  offer  ample  justi- 
fication for  distinguishing  treatment.  Regarding  the  younger  group,  there  can  be  no 
difference  of  reasonable  opinion :  students  of  this  early  age  should  at  once  be  returned 
to  the  high  schools  nearest  their  homes,  and  be  required  to  finish  the  course  there 
before  coming  to  the  normal  school.2  A  high  school  senior  twenty  years  of  age  is  not 
hopelessly  out  of  place,  tho  he  be  two  years  behind  the  schedule,  Taking  the  second- 
ary enrolment  of  1913-14  as  a  basis,  and  including  half  of  those  who  are  nineteen  or 
twenty,  we  would  have  about  forty-five  per  cent  or,  roughly,  seventeen  hundred  stu- 
dents to  be  returned  to  high  schools — an  increase  of  only  five  per  cent  in  the  total 
attendance  at  first  class  high  schools  in  that  year.  Slightly  over  two  thousand  students 
would  remain  to  be  otherwise  provided  for. 

The  course  here  suggested  is  advisable  first  of  all  for  the  sake  of  its  effect  upon  the 
normal  school  in  eliminating  an  element  of  immaturity  that  under  modern  conditions 

1  Recent  information  gathered  by  the  Director  of  Admissions  at  Columbia  shows  clearly  that  the  younger  students 
do  the  better  work,  the  grade  diminishing1  steadily  and  consistently  with  increased  age.  The  same  results  appeared 
at  Harvard  with  the  additional  discovery  of  decreased  liability  to  college  censure  among  young  students. 

2  In  the  case  of  students  Hying  at  a  distance  from  high  schools,  it  is  recognized  that  such  a  measure  could  not  fairly 
be  undertaken  without  statutory  provision  for  free  tuition,  to  be  paid  by  the  county,  in  the  high  school  most  accessi- 
ble. This  step,  however,  is  long  overdue  in  Missouri  from  every  educational  and  democratic  point  of  view. 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  SECONDARY  STUDENT  £99 

has  no  place  there,  and  that  at  present  seriously  diverts  the  energy  and  attention  of 
both  teachers  and  students  from  the  one  professional  aim  of  the  institution.  The  most 
obvious  way  to  emphasize  the  collegiate  and  professional  character  of  the  institution 
is  to  turn  over  all  secondary  work  to  its  own  natural  agents,  the  high  schools,  or  if 
necessary  to  a  third  agency,  as  indicated  below.  In  the  second  place  it  is  cheaper  to 
educate  students  of  this  grade  in  the  schools  that  are  intended  for  them.  It  is  both 
absolutely  cheaper  in  money,  and  it  would  be  a  relief  to  the  state,  since  the  expense  of 
such  secondary  instruction  would  be  borne  locally  either  by  the  county  or  by  the  dis- 
trict. Local  institutions  are  already  fully  organized,  but  are  usually  small,  and  these 
students  could  be  distributed  among  them  with  relatively  slight  increase  in  cost  while 
the  saving  at  the  normal  schools  would  be  considerable. 

A  further  consideration  is  fundamental.  The  secondary  schools  of  Missouri  have  an 
educational  right  to  the  support  and  recognition  that  such  a  policy  would  supply.  In 
going  over  the  state,  the  enquiry  staff  found  numerous  cases  of  complaint  on  the 
part  of  high  school  officers  that  the  normal  schools  repeatedly  drew  oif  their  students, 
either  altogether  or  shortly  before  graduation,  by  enabling  them  to  take  a  heavier 
program  or  to  combine  college  and  high  school  work  and  thus  eventually  to  save 
time.  This  telescoping  procedure  has  been  a  normal  school  practice  of  long  standing, 
and  is  part  of  the  tendency  to  over-speeding  that  has  been  the  chief  cause  for  friction 
with  the  state  department  and  other  crediting  agencies.  It  is  but  justice  to  the  sec- 
ondary school  in  its  effort  to  provide  a  deliberate  and  thorough  education,  to  require 
the  sanction  of  its  graduation  before  admitting  one  of  its  students,  and  the  weaker 
the  school,  the  greater  the  reason  for  sustaining  its  claims  if  its  work  is  to  be  recog- 
nized at  all.  Each  high  school  can  easily  provide  examinations  whereby  capable  stu- 
dents may  hasten  their  work;  it  should  not  be  made  a  victim  of  a  process  that  demor- 
alizes its  senior  class  in  the  interests  of  another  institution. 

It  may  be  objected  that  for  some  students  the  physical  difficulty  of  attending  dis- 
tant high  schools  is  too  serious  to  be  considered.  This  is  certainly  a  habit  of  thought 
rather  than  a  matter  of  fact.  Many  high  schools  both  in  Missouri  and  in  other  states 
have  considerable  colonies  of  students  drawn  in  for  the  week  from  the  neighboring 
country.  The  high  school  at  Ava,  in  Douglas  County,  Missouri,  is  an  excellent  ex- 
ample of  an  isolated  but  thoroughly  modern  school  serving  the  whole  surrounding 
region  in  this  manner.  With  its  teacher-training  class  it  constitutes  a  miniature  normal 
school  for  the  district,  and  renders  a  service  that  could  be  duplicated  at  will  in  any 
similar  locality.  So  long  as  secondary  students  are  allowed  to  teach  at  all,  they  should 
be  prepared  at  these  distributed  training  centres,  where  good  student  material  is  avail- 
able from  which  a  selection  can  be  made,  thus  in  turn  strengthening  the  high  school 
itself  for  its  local  purpose.1 

1  The  problem  of  housing  and  supervising:  young"  students  in  a  high  school  town  need  be  no  more  difficult  than  at  the 
present  normal  schools.  Only  one  of  the  latter  has  even  partial  dormitory  arrangements,  the  students  everywhere  oc- 
cupying rooms  secured  in  the  several  neighborhoods.  Segregation  of  boys  and  girls  and  approval  of  rooming  houses 


300  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

SPECIAL  NEEDS  OF  THE  OLDER  SECONDARY  STUDENT 

On  the  other  hand,  would-be  students  who  have  reached  the  age  of  nineteen  with- 
out attending  a  secondary  school,  or  who  may  have  attended  for  a  year  or  two  and 
then  have  taught  for  a  series  of  years,  constitute  a  different  problem  altogether.  For 
such  people  the  ordinary  high  school  does  not  make  suitable  provision :  its  student 
body  is  too  youthful  for  comfortable  association,  and  its  processes,  if  not  unnecessarily 
slow,  are  unsuited  to  the  older  group;  furthermore  the  presence  of  much  older  and 
more  experienced  minds  of  low  attainment  reacts  harmfully  upon  younger  students. 
For  such  belated,  tho  often  capable  and  worthy  individuals,  the  middle  western  nor- 
mal school  has,  from  its  beginning,  been  a  haven  of  refuge.  The  completeness  with 
which  large  numbers  of  these  candidates  have  disappeared  and  been  assimilated  within 
its  frequently  enormous  bulk  is  the  clearest  testimony  to  its  formlessness.  Instead  of 
preparing  selected  material  in  the  best  possible  way  for  a  fixed  purpose,  it  has  been 
intent  upon  giving  each  individual,  for  his  own  sake,  a  vocational  opportunity  to 
fill  any  teaching  niche  that  might  offer,  regardless  of  whether  he  took  one  term  or  a 
dozen  to  prepare  for  it;  and  it  has  utilized  for  this  purpose,  usually  in  good  faith,  the 
various  time-saving  devices  elsewhere  described.  Under  rural  and  pioneer  conditions 
this  was  a  necessary  and  welcome  service,  but  as  social  requirements  have  become  defi- 
nite and  specialized,  the  emphasis  in  professional  matters  has  inevitably  changed  from 
the  mere  welfare  of  the  individual  to  the  quality  of  the  service  that  he  is  prepared 
to  render  the  community;  he  is  selected,  trained,  tested,  and  inspected,  not  to  ensure 
him  a  successful  career  as  a  breadwinner,  but  to  guarantee  his  proper  performance  for 
the  sake  of  others,  and  professional  institutions  should  be  most  insistent  in  upholding 
this  view.  In  so  far  as  the  selection  of  material  has  been  concerned,  conditions  have 
been  improving  rapidly  in  Missouri,  particularly  since  1914 ;  collegiate  students  are 
much  more  carefully  separated  than  formerly  from  those  who  lack  complete  entrance 
qualifications.  It  remains  to  provide  in  some  adequate  manner  for  the  large  number 
of  mature  students,  usually  already  teachers  of  some  experience,  who  have  not  satis- 
fied these  requirements. 

A  STATE  HIGH  SCHOOL 

An  essential  feature  of  a  provision  for  this  purpose  should  be  its  distinctness  of 
organization;  a  school  for  such  people  should  stand  as  separate  and  apart  from  the 
normal  schools  as  from  the  regular  high  schools;  it  should  have  a  completely  separate 
staff,  separate  buildings,  and,  if  possible,  a  separate  location ;  it  should  be  in  session 
the  year  round;  it  should  be  as  free  to  adapt  itself  to  its  peculiar  function  as  is  any 
other  state  institution,  and  should  aim  to  provide  for  mature  secondary  students  pre- 
paring not  only  for  normal  schools  but  for  the  university,  as  well  as  supplying  high 
school  opportunities  for  any  adult  students  who  may  not  wish  to  continue  their  edu- 

is  usually  required  by  the  schools,  but  at  Springfield,  a  city  of  forty  thousand  population,  not  even  this  is  demanded. 
A  good  high  school  administration  could  easily  develop  a  system  of  control  at  least  equally  satisfactory. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  ATTENDANCE  301 

cation  beyond  that  point.  Such  institutions  would  be  nothing  other  than  state  high 
schools  taking  their  warrant  from  the  analogy  of  the  state  university.  These  could  be 
easily  organized,  for  the  present,  in  connection  with  certain  of  the  normal  schools,  by 
effecting  a  rigid  separation,  as  regards  staff,  program,  and  attendance,  between  the 
students  in  the  normal  school  proper  and  all  secondary  students  over  twenty  years  of 
age,  no  younger  applicants  being  admitted  unless  clearly  unsuited  to  high  school 
membership.  It  is  probable  that  the  demand  for  such  institutions  would  diminish1 
considerably  as  higher  requirements  for  teachers'  certificates  were  made  universal  by 
law  throughout  the  state.  They  might  then  be  reduced  in  number,  possibly  to  one, 
having  a  central  location  and  accessible  from  all  directions.  A  plan  of  this  kind  would 
furnish  a  practicable  and  congenial  arrangement  whereby  older  and  retarded  students 
could  recover  their  handicap  to  the  best  advantage,  and  whereby  really  valuable  and 
ambitious  minds  could  be  saved  to  the  state  without  prejudice  to  a  sound  organization 
of  the  normal  schools. 

3.  Organization  of  Attendance'21 
THE  PROBLEM  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE 

The  historical  circumstances  out  of  which  the  present  problem  of  attendance  at 
the  Missouri  normal  schools  has  arisen  have  already  been  described.3  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  the  schools  were  started  at  a  time  when  formal  training  for  teaching 
was  all  but  completely  lacking  in  the  state,  and  that  they  were  kept  alive,  often  by 
desperate  effort,  for  a  public  largely,  apathetic  or  openly  hostile.  Their  leaders  were 
quasi-missionaries.  Their  aims  were  two-fold:  they  sought,  on  the  one  hand,  to  at- 
tract and  interest  boys  and  girls  in  education,  and  on  the  other,  to  justify  their  own 
existence  before  a  critical  legislature  that  could  be  impressed  chiefly  by  size.  They 
were  independent,  autonomous  organizations  actuated  by  a  generous  rivalry.  Given 

1  The  actual  as  well  as  relative  number  of  secondary  students  at  the  schools  is  apparently  diminishing  with  great 
rapidity.  Springfield  reports  (Catalogue,  1917-18)  864  secondary  students  out  of  1797  or  48  per  cent  as  compared  with 
1207  or  63  per  cent  in  1913-14.  Kirksville  gives  her  proportions  in  1916-17  as  20  per  cent,  which  would  be  about  337 
(Catalogue,  1917,  page  18)  as  compared  with  805  or  54  per  cent  in  1913-14,  but  it  is  not  clear  how  this  figure  was  reached. 
When  the  records  of  this  school  were  studied,  it  was  found  to  be  im  possible  to  ascertain  the  real  classification  of  large 
numbers  of  students.  To  the  question  as  to  how  the  report  required  by  the  state  superintendent  was  compiled,  the 
reply  was  given  that  the  numbers  were  "estimated  by  the  membership  in  various  representative  classes  or  in  other 
ways."  It  is  noteworthy  that  these  reports  from  Kirksville  are  uniformly  in  round  numbers^When  it  is  recalled  that 
this  school  has  frequently  made  up  its  secondary  units  in  connection  with  attendance  on  "  college  "  classes,  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  chancefor  error  in  this  method  of  reckoning  is  high.  The  figures  used  in  this  study  were  arrived  at 
by  an  examination  of  each  student's  program — an  obviously  unsatisfactory  method,  but  the  only  one  available  in 
the  absence  of  a  definite  classification  based  upon  the  amount  and  character  of  secondary  work  completed. 

2  Development  of  the  Calendar.  From  the  establishment  of  the  First  District  Normal  School  at  Kirksville,  in  1871, 
until  1904,  all  of  the  schools  observed  a  thirty-eight  or  forty-week,  two-semester  calendar,  with  each  semester  sub- 
divided into  two  terms.  Meanwhile  the  summer  session  appeared.  Started  at  Warrensburg  in  1894  as  a  private 
undertaking  of  the  faculty,  it  was  formally  taken  over  by  the  regents  in  1900.  Summer  sessions  were  inaugurated  at 
Kirksville  in  1890  and  at  Cape  Girardeau  in  1897.  Springfield  and  Maryviile  opened  their  careers  with  summer  ses- 
sions in  1906.  These  special  sessions  of  the  school,  at  first  but  six  weeks  in  length,  quickly  became  popular  as  an 
effective  substitute  for  the  earlier  form  of  teachers*  "institute"  — an  improvised  three  or  four  week  normal  centre 
conducted  for  the  training  of  teachers  in  service.  The  superiority  of  the  summer  session  for  that  purpose  finally 
became  so  apparent  that  in  1904  the  calendar  was  altered  from  a  semester  to  a  term  basis,  and  the  summer  session 
was  included  as  the  fourth  twelve-week  term  of  the  regular  school  year.  It  has  gradually  shrunk  to  a  ten-week 
term,  at  first  with  compensating  work  on  Saturdays  and  later  without  this  equivalent  Credit  is,  however,  main- 
tained at  the  fall  amount. 

8  See  pages  36-41. 


302  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

such  premises,,  a  certain  type  of  organization  follows  almost  of  necessity.  Every  ap- 
plicant must  be  admitted  at  any  time  without  inconvenience  or  disadvantage  to  him- 
self;  it  must  be  possible,  in  turn,  for  a  student  to  drop  out  at  any  point,  likewise 
without  disadvantage  to  himself,  except  for  the  actual  loss  of  time  while  absent. 
Such  a  policy  is  clearly  most  gratifying  to  the  student,  and  to  his  parents  and  his 
friends  in  the  community;1  it  gains  support  for  the  schools,  and  is  the  policy  best  cal- 
culated to  increase  attendance. 

EDUCATIONAL  EFFECTS  OF  THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM 

Educationally  this  policy  has  certain  very  definite  implications.  It  makes  a  curricu- 
lum organized  for  a  purpose  and  followed  in  sequence  impossible;  or  at  least  it  places 
a  very  high  premium  upon  an  indiscriminate  or  loosely  grouped  elective  system  for 
the  sake  of  ease  in  administration.  The  larger  the  number  of  short,  interchangeable 
units,  the  more  easily  can  programs  be  made  up  and  irregular  students  accommo- 
dated. The  consequent  results  are  bad.  Ten  new  students  report  for  the  second  term 
of  a  history,  literature,  or  science  sequence.  If  fairly  treated,  and  certainly  if  they 
constitute  a  majority  of  the  class,  they  must  have  the  general  aims  and  setting  of  the 
course  repeated;  instructions  about  study,  reading,  or  gathering  material  must  be 
gone  over  a  second  time,  and  the  new  students  must  be  broken  into  possibly  new  habits 
of  work  while  the  others  mark  time.  Worst  of  all,  the  earlier  course  is  of  no  assistance 
to  the  later  course  in  the  minds  of  the  newcomers,  and  if  these  are  to  progress  with- 
out it,  those  who  have  taken  the  earlier  work  must  lose  what  is  rightfully  theirs.  The 
teacher  must  forego  allusion  to  earlier  comment,  situation,  or  example.  To  handle 
the  year's  work  as  a  whole  is  like  discussing  a  play  with  an  audience  half  of  which 
has  missed  the  first  two  acts.  All  thought  of  the  larger  development  and  coherence  of 
the  material  is  therefore  dropped,  and  the  work  of  the  course  resolves  itself  solely 
into  what  can  be  seen  within  the  limits  of  that  particular  ten  or  twelve  week  term,  as 
tho  teacher  and  student  had  never  met  before.  The  class  is  always  starting  again  and 
never  accumulates  the  real  momentum  which  is  the  chief  result  of  prolonged  coop- 
eration by  teacher  and  class. 

Aside  from  this  impoverishing  effect  on  instruction,  the  system  is  wasteful.  Classes 
are  repeated  from  term  to  term  for  small  groups  that  in  an  organized  curriculum 
would  have  but  one  place  for  that  subject,  and  that  in  a  sequence  in  which  it  in- 
terpreted its  predecessor  and  prepared  the  way  for  work  to  come.  Further,  such  a  vari- 
ety of  subjects  being  available,  it  is  easy  for  students  to  form  the  habit  of  dropping 
one  subject  for  another  thru  sheer  caprice — convenience  of  program,  presence  of 
friends,  popular  teachers,  and  so  forth — even  tho  they  do  not  leave  the  school.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  not  infrequently  happens  that  when  the  two  or  three  parts  of  a  sub- 
ject are  given  during  the  same  term  by  this  system,  a  student  will  enroll  in  both  or  all. 

1  "We  have  students  entering-  at  almost  all  seasons,  and  we  undertake  to  adapt  ourselves  to  the  necessities  of  the 
communities  which  we  serve,"  KirlcsviUe  Catalogue,  1903,  page  26i 


ORGANIZATION  OF  ATTENDANCE  303 

A  student  commencing  English,  history  may  be  introduced  by  three  separate  begin- 
nings at  one  time.  Indirectly  the  procedure  cheapens  the  whole  institution.  It  virtually 
begs  the  student  to  "drop  in  at  any  time,"  and  such  an  opportunity  does  not  command 
respect.  Any  student  appreciates  more  keenly  the  organization  that  requires  an  ad- 
justment on  his  part,  even  to  the  point  of  some  sacrifice,  if  it  is  plainly  to  his  larger 
interest.  A  person  who  attends  a  college  or  university  willingly  adapts  himself  to  the 
prerequisites  and  sequences  that  are  demanded,  even  in  a  general  course,  and  tradi- 
tionally takes  the  full  curriculum  or  at  least  an  unbroken  year ;  his  experiences  repre- 
sent a  coherent  development.  The  graduate  of  this  type  of  normal  school,  on  the  con- 
trary, thinks  of  his  work  not  in  large,  significant  wholes,  but  in  unrelated  fragments 
heaped  up  at  last  to  the  proper  height.  Such  normal  schools  can  hardly  object  to 
being  advertised  by  their  one- term  students  when  their  curricula  are  but  a  medley 
of  one-term  courses  to  be  picked  up,  dropped,  or  intermingled  at  will.1 

There  is  but  one  favorable  thing  that  may  be  said  of  this  organization  for  the  tran- 
sient student.  It  supplies  a  hand-to-mouth  education  for  the  student  who  must  lead 
a  hand-to-mouth  existence.  Under  pioneer  conditions  such  students  are  many,  and 
are  too  precious  to  ignore.  But  the  time  comes  when  the  demand  for  teachers  with 
thorough  preparation  outweighs  every  other  concern,  and  then  these  erstwhile  bene- 
ficiaries should  be  provided  for  otherwise,  while  the  normal  school  moves  ahead  on 
its  proper  path. 

The  Missouri  normal  schools  are  acute  sufferers  from  the  system  described  above. 
About  half  of  the  teachers  conducting  sequences  of  two  or  more  terms2  (seventy- 
seven)  still  report  appreciable  changes  in  the  membership  of  classes  at  the  end  of 
each  term.3  They  very  generally  condemn  this  practice,  tho  a  few  have  evidently  be- 
come so  used  to  it  as  to  see  no  disadvantage,  and  two  actually  commend  it.  Typical 
criticisms  are:  " Class  held  back/'  "Prevents  consecutive  work,"  "Harder  for  stu- 
dent/'"Much  ground  retraced/'  "Student  fails,  or  succeeds  at  expense  of  teacher/' 
"  Confusion,  waste,  duplication  of  work,"  "Destroys  interest,  lowers  standards,"  "Per- 
fect pandemonium/5 " New  students  a  drag;  no  continuity."  One  teacher  considers  it 
a  bore  to  have  "absolute  constant  membership"!  At  some  schools  a  considerable 
change  occurs  even  in  the  middle  of  the  term;  especially  in  the  spring  when  teachers 
come  in  after  the  close  of  their  schools.  Cape  Girardeau  teachers  note  this  in  eleven 
cases,  and  a  class  in  Ancient  History  was  visited  there  to  which  had  just  been  added 
eight  students  wholly  ignorant  of  the  first  six  weeks'  work.4  At  Warrensburg  and 

1  The  normal  school-  catalogues  contain  so  many  warnings  against  the  Imposition  of  the  pseudo-normal  student  (that 
is  one  of  brief  attendance)  that  the  danger  of  misrepresentation  must  have  been  considerable.  With  a  curriculum 
nothing:  but  arope  of  sand,  however,  it  is  hard  to  see  how  this  can  well  be  avoided.  The  school's  only  protection  is  an 
organized  and  continuous  course-  before  a  license  to  teach  can  be  had. 

2  The  reason  more  sequences  are  not  reported  is  the  best  of  evidence  of  the  conditions  described.  AtMaryville,  for 
example,  these  prevail  to  such  an  extent  that  true  sequences  in  courses  from  term  to  term  are  no  longer  attempted. 
8  "  Elementary  Education,  twenty-six  entered,  ten  withdrew."  "  Algebra  I,  IT  and  in,  less  than  5  per  cent  continued 
thru ;  50-75  per  cent  new  each  term."  "  Rhetoric  and  American  Literature  drops  27  per  cent  end  of  first  term  and  adds 
18  per  cent;  English  Literature  drops  35  per  cent  and  adds  31  per  cent."  These  are  typical  reports. 

*  These  were  applicants  for  "approved  grades."  They  were  admitted  to  a  beginning  class  six  weeks  ahead  of  them, 
and  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  subject  to  an  advanced  class  six  weeks  ahead  of  them.  At  the  en  d  of  the  quarter 


304  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

Mary ville  this  apparently  does  not  happen.  At  all  of  the  schools  individual  students 
appear  to  be  admitted  to  classes  at  almost  any  time.  "  Students  enter  anywhere  from 
first  day  to  first  eight  weeks,"  says  one  primary  English  teacher9  and  she  proceeds  to 
state  how  she  fills  up  the  time  until  the  class  is  collected. 

CHANGES  IN  STFDENT  BODY  FROM  TEEM  TO  TERM 

About  one-eighth  of  the  students  leave  after  the  fall  quarter  and  are  replaced  by 
a  new  sixth.  After  the  winter  term  more  than  one- fourth  leave  and  two-fifths  enter 
or  reenter.  From  spring  to  summer  one-half  remain,  while  one  hundred  thirty  per 
cent  more  come  in.  This  shift  is  much  more  pronounced  among  the  secondary  stu- 
dents than  among  the  collegiate  students,  especially  after  the  winter  term.  The  latter 
have  already  developed  considerable  stability  of  attendance.  Omitting  the  "spring 
only"  and  "spring  and  summer"  collegiate  students,  inasmuch  as  they  are  chiefly 
teachers  who  come  in  after  their  short-term  schools  have  closed,  there  remain  one 
thousand  two  hundred  sixty-nine  collegiate  attendants  at  the  regular  fall,  winter, 
and  spring  sessions,  and  of  these  three-fourths  are  found  staying  thru  either  three* 
or  all  four  quarters.  These  figures  are  for  the  total  enrolment  of  1913-14.  Approx- 
imately the  same  result  appears  in  a  study  of  the  attendance  at  four  schools1  when 
visited  in  1915.  A  group  was  made  up  which  comprised  all  those  who  had  attended 
three  terms  or  more  in  the  collegiate  department.  These  numbered  four  hundred  sev- 
enty-three, and  seven-tenths  of  them  had  made  at  least  three  terms  of  their  collegiate 
work  consecutive.2  This  is  most  encouraging  in  view  of  the  proposal  for  a  fixed  and 
regular  session.  Add  to  these  such  students  as  could  accommodate  their  plans  if  the 
school  were  to  require  it,  and  we  would  have  an  impressive  showing. 

SEQUENCE  OF  YEARS 

The  question  of  sequence  of  attendance  from  year  to  year  is  another  important  but, 
for  the  present,  less  critical  problem.  It  is  possible  for  students  to  omit  a  year's  at- 
tendance, while  they  recoup  their  finances,  without  seriously  disturbing  the  work  of 
the  institution.  Experience  in  itself  is  doubtless  a  benefit,  tho  when  this  is  lacking 
in  wise  direction,  its  value  falls  comparatively  low.  The  chief  objection  lies  in  the 
educational  malpractice  whereby  these  partly  schooled  students  are  turned  out  on 
small,  remote,  and  therefore  helpless  communities.  As  soon  as  fitting  legislation  makes 

they  entered  the  regular  beginning  class  for  the  first  six  weeks'  work  and  the  regular  advanced  class  for  the  six  weeks 
omitted  there.  At  the  end  of  this  second  six  weeks  they  received  credit  for  two  full  quarters  of  ancient  history.  Surely 
"adjustment  to  the  needs  of  the  individual"  could  go  no  further.  The  practice  was  admitted  to  be  very  bad*  but  it 
*'  could  not  be  helped  "  — except,  of  course,  by  not  doing-  it.This  is  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  tendency  to  cheapen 
the  instruction  provided  for  secondary  pupils  whose  numbers  ensure  the  appropriations,  in  order  to  build  up  expen- 
sive advanced  classes  for  a  few  students.  Had  one  of  these  eight  applied  for  advanced  Latin,  an  instructor  would  at 
once  have  been  assigrnedeven  for  his  sole  benefit. 

1  Data  not  secured  from  Warrensburg. 

2  The  secondary  students  for  whom  the  same  facts  could  be  obtained  numbered  346.  Of  these  43  per  cent  had  not  had 
three  consecutive  terms  in  their  normal  school  attendance  thus  far,' tho  all  had  had  at  least  three  terms  at  the  school. 
The  relief  to  the  school  by  the  elimination  of  these  term-at-a-time  secondary  students  would  be  considerable. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  ATTENDANCE  305 

this  impossible,  the  problem  will  disappear.  Students  expecting  to  teach  will  be  obliged 
to  provide  for  their  training  otherwise  than  by  imposing  upon  undiscerning  school 
boards.  In  the  group  of  collegiate  students  last  referred  to  in  the  preceding  paragraph 
were  one  hundred  fifty-five  who  had  taken  six  terms  or  more  of  collegiate  work.  Of 
these,  eleven  per  cent  had  done  their  work  in  two  separated  periods  of  three  consec- 
utive terms  each,  sixteen  per  cent  had  taken  one  such  period  and  the  remainder  of 
their  work  in  scattered  terms,  only  one  per  cent  took  no  three  terms  together,  wiiile 
seventy-two  per  cent  had  taken  all  six  terms  consecutively.  Here  again  is  convincing 
evidence  that  the  collegiate  department  at  least  is  ripe  for  a  coherent  organization. 

NEED  OF  CENTRAL  ADMINISTRATION  AND  FAVORABLE  LEGISLATION 

The  participants  in  the  enquiry  are  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  the  regulations 
governing  attendance  at  the  normal  schools  of  Missouri  should  be  revised.  The  ques- 
tion is  closely  interwoven  with  that  of  the  curricula,  and  on  the  treatment  of  these 
two  vital  factors  will  hang  the  verdict  as  to  whether  the  normal  schools  are  to  be 
leaders  in  the  moulding  of  teachers  or  mere  followers  in  the  path  of  least  resistance 
marked  out  by  popular  fancy. 

It  will  be  very  much  more  difficult  for  the  normal  schools  to  do  the  things  that 
should  be  done  if  they  continue  to  stand  apart  than  it  will  be  if  they  centralize  their 
administration,  and  are  thus  enabled  to  share  responsibility.  As  separate  schools  they 
are  dependent  on  their  local  constituencies;  as  representative  arms  of  a  centralized 
state  function,  however,  they  can  enforce  policies  that  are  right  from  the  higher  point 
of  view  of  the  state,  unaffected  by  local  prejudice.  Favorable  legislation  likewise  would 
be  of  immense  assistance.  The  third  grade  certificate  should  be  abolished ;  this  would 
place  all  preparation  for  teaching  in  Missouri  on  at  least  a  high  school  basis,  and 
those  who  go  no  farther  should  of  course  be  required  to  attend  the  training  classes.1 
This,  too,  would  enable  the  normal  schools  more  readily  to  dispense  with  their  sec- 
ondary departments,  as  elsewhere  suggested.  Furthermore,  if  all  cities  having  a  pop- 
ulation of  five  thousand  or  more  were  required  to  employ  only  such  elementary  teach- 
ers as  had  at  least  two  years  of  professional  training  in  advance  of  the  high  school, 
the  task  of  the  normal  schools  would  at  once  become  definite  and  authoritative.  It  is 
difficult  for  schools  to  maintain  standard  requirements  when  any  student  may  leave 
at  any  point  in  the  course  because  of  an  offer  to  teach  that  cuts  under  his  training. 
Such  legislative  cooperation  would  aid  the  normal  schools  greatly  in  discharging  the 
task  that  the  state  has  put  into  their  hands.  Broken  attendance  is  much  more  charac- 
teristic of  the  secondary  than  of  the  collegiate  group,  and  if  the  former  department 
were  eliminated  and  a  clear  goal  set  for  at  least  part  of  the  collegiate  courses,  a  sound 
development  would  be  assured. 

1  So  far  from  this  step,  the  Missouri  Legislature  of  1917  took  the  unaccountable  action  of  making  the  third  grade 
certificate  renewable  once  without  examination.  It  could  previously  be  acquired  four  times  by  successive  annual 
examinations;  with  four  examinations  and  the  four  renewals,  therefore,  the  present  arrangement  gives  virtually 
an  eight-year  teaching  permit  to  persons  who  are  wholly  unfit. 


806  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

OPPORTUNITY  OF  THE  SCHOOLS  FOR  INDEPENDENT  ACTION 

Nevertheless,  even  without  such  help,  the  schools  have  it  in  their  power  to  bring 
about  radical  changes  for  the  better  solely  thru  their  own  initiative.  Definite,  three- 
term  curricula  for  the  most  needed  objectives  should  be  laid  out  in  common  by  all 
the  schools  and  adhered  to,  no  student  being  admitted  at  any  point  who  has  not  fully 
satisfied  the  preceding  requirements.  There  is  undoubtedly  a  large  body  of  students 
ready  to  take  an  exclusive  curriculum  of  this  sort,  and  it  may  be  safely  predicted 
that  most  of  those  who  now  enter  and  withdraw  irregularly  would  accommodate 
themselves  to  such  a  requirement  if  it  were  necessary.  As  long  as  the  school  continues 
to  sacrifice  its  coherence  to  the  putative  "necessities"  of  the  students,  one  may  be 
sure  that  the  latter  will  take  full  advantage  of  their  opportunities.  Even  the  stu- 
dents themselves,  however,  prefer  the  other  system  and  think  it  feasible.  When  asked 
as  to  the  merits  of  saving  funds  for  a  year's  continuous  attendance  versus  the  quar- 
terly interchange  of  teaching  and  study,  ninety-four  per  cent  of  the  students  declared 
that  the  first  was  wiser.  And  when  asked  whether  that  plan  was  practicable  for  most 
student-teachers,  nearly  three-fourths  voted  that  it  was.1  The  normal  school  teachers 
were  not  nearly  so  confident  on  this  latter  point  as  were  the  students.  Two-thirds  of 
those  teachers  replying  from  Warrensburg  and  all  but  one  from  Maryville  believed 
that  consecutive  attendance  on  the  part  of  the.great  majority  of  the  students  was 
practicable,  but  at  Cape  Girardeau  one-half,  at  Springfield  two-thirds,  and  at  Kirks- 
ville  three-quarters  of  them  were  of  the  opposite  opinion.2  The  discount  in  these  ex- 
pressions, both  of  students  and  of  teachers,  must  probably  be  made  from  the  objectors 
as  most  likely  to  be  influenced  by  the  situation  with  which  they  are  familiar.  It  is  cer- 
tainly difficult  to  see  why  a  student,  especially  one  of  collegiate  status,  could  not  teach 
longer  and  save  money  for  a  year's  work  instead  of  coming  only  for  six  months  or  for 
a  single  quarter. 

It  is,  of  course,  the  regular  session  that  one  would  like  to  see  at  once  made  contin- 
uous; the  summer  session  should  provide  as  now  for  teachers  for  whom  a  continuous 
year's  work  maybe  out  of  the  question,  until  the  elimination  of  low  grade  certificates 
may  reduce  this  need.  But  here,  also,  the  work  should  be  organized  in  sequence  in 
effective  curricula,  even  tho  the  advantage  of  consecutive  attendance  would  have  to 
be  sacrificed.  It  would  be  a  simple  matter,  for  example,  to  offer  the  successive  quarters 
of  a  two-year  curriculum  in  succeeding  summers,  thus  making  it  possible  for  a  teacher 
in  one  full  year  and  three  summers  to  complete  the  course.  At  the  same  time  dupli- 
,  cation  could  be  avoided,  except  in  so  far  as  might  be  actually  necessary  to  handle  the 
numbers,  by  arranging  to  distribute  the  work  of  different  quarters  among  the  schools. 
To  be  assured  of  finding  the  particular  quarterns  work  needed  complete  at  some  school 
in  the  state  would  be  a  sufficiently  reasonable  provision  for  the  irregular  student  at 

1  The  Questions  were  asked  at  Maryville,  Warrensburg1,  and  Kirksville.  Twelve  hundred  sixteen,  or  94  per  cent  of 
those  reporting,  voted  for  the  first  proposition,  and  775,  or  70  per  cent  of  those  reporting,  voted  for  the  second. 

2  At  Kirksville,  however,  96  per  cent  of  the  students  voted  in  favor  of  consecutive  sessions  and  76  percent  for  their 
practicability. 


ADMISSION  AND  CLASSIFICATION  OF  STUDENTS  307 

the  summer  sessions.  This  naturally  presupposes  intimate  cooperation  between  the 
schools  on  a  carefully  worked-out  plan. 


4.  Admission  and  Classification 
a.  REQUIREMENTS  FOR  ADMISSION 

Conditions  of  admission  to  the  normal  schools  in  Missouri  are  determined  partly 
by  law  and  partly  by  the  regulations  of  the  various  boards  of  regents.  The  law 
of  1870  establishing  the  first  two  normal  schools  permitted  the  board  to  require  a 
declaration  on  the  part  of  each  entering  student  that  it  was  his  intention  to  teach 
in  the  public  schools  of  the  state.1  This  requirement  was  made  compulsory  in  1879,2 
and  is  still  in  force.3  Such  declaration  is  usually  incorporated  in  some  information  or 
registration  blank  that  the  student  is  required  to  sign  as  a  whole.  The  provision  is 
thus  technically  satisfied  without  giving  it  what  in  some  cases  would  be  unwelcome 
prominence.  Maryville  does  not  require  the  declaration  at  all.  In  the  catalogues  War- 
rensburg  alone  gives  it  due  emphasis ;  the  others  omit  all  reference  to  it.  To  meet  the 
obvious  intent  of  the  law,  a  separate  signature  on  a  duly  specific  and  formal  blank 
should  be  demanded,  and  notice  of  the  requirement  should  be  given  in  each  catalogue. 
Candidly  interpreted,  the  declaration  is  a  genuine  and  important  condition  of  admis- 
sion, and  when  duly  emphasized,  may  furnish  valuable  moral  support  to  a  school 
that  seeks  to  concentrate  its  effort.  The  experience  of  Warrensburg  is  ample  evi- 
dence of  this. 

REGULATIONS  OF  LOCAL  BOARDS 

The  single  board  in  charge  of  the  first  two  schools  set  up  certain  further  condi- 
tions. The  first  was  an  age  limit  of  seventeen  years  for  boys  and  fifteen  years  for  girls, 
with  the  understanding  that  in  case  the  student  agreed  to  take  the  full  course,  he 
would  be  admitted  one  year  earlier.4  These  age  limits  underwent  various  fluctua- 
tions in  the  several  schools,  soon  (1876)  dropping  to  fourteen  for  both  boys  and  girls, 
and  later  rising  to  fifteen  and  sixteen.  At  present  the  matter  of  age  scarcely  enters 
into  consideration,  the  question  being  one  of  articulation  with  the  elementary  school. 
The  only  other  original  entrance  provision  of  importance  was  an  educational  quali- 
fication stated  to  be  aan  examination  as  for  a  second  grade  county  certificate1"15 — at 
that  time  the  lowest  teaching  certificate  in  use,  and  equivalent  at  best  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  eighth  elementary  grade.  The  manner  of  the  enforcement  of  this  second 
requirement  deserves  special  consideration. 


1  Laws  of  Missouri,  1870,  page  186,  section  10. 

2  Revised  Statutes,  1879,  section  7167.  *  1918. 
4  Stale  Report,  1871.  pa^e  139.          6  Ibid. 


308  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

EXAMINATION  versus  "PROVING  UP" 

Whatever  the  prerequisite  to  regular  membership  in  a  Missouri  normal  school,  it 
is  improbable  that  any  student,  otherwise  acceptable,  was  ever  refused  admission  to 
the  institutions  on  account  of  deficient  scholarship.  For  extremely  backward  students 
a  "  sub-normal"  or  elementary  department  with  courses  of  varying  length  appears  to 
have  done  duty  throughout  the  first  thirty  years.  Nevertheless,  during  this  early  period 
admission  to  the  normal  school  proper  was  guarded  by  an  examination  demanded  of 
all, — at  least,  of  all  those  who  had  not  already  been  examined  for  a  teacher's  certifi- 
cate. Provision  for  such  an  examination  appears  in  some  form  in  practically  all  of  the 
catalogues  until  1900.1  Meanwhile  the  few  applicants  holding  advanced  standing  from 
colleges  and  seminaries,2  and  later  those  coming  from  the  high  schools  as  they  devel- 
oped, were  admitted  with  due  credit  for  work  already  done,  but  the  difficulty  of  esti- 
mating the  precise  value  of  such  work  brought  from  every  variety  of  institution  led 
to  a  practice  that  has  since  wrought  havoc  in  the  institutions.  Examination  of  such 
a  student  was  waived  out  of  deference  to  his  "  grades,3'  but  to  test  its  worth  the  credit 
was  not  formally  accepted  until  the  student  had  "  shown  that  he  could  do  satisfac- 
tory work"  in  the  classes  where  such  credit  placed  him?  and  it  became  the  general 
custom,  as  a  matter  of  precaution,  to  defer  even  the  record  of  the  advanced  credit 
until  shortly  before  graduation.3  Experience  has  taught  other  higher  institutions  that 
this  policy  is  disastrous.  A  scheme  that  makes  a  large  material  advantage  to  the  stu- 
dent contingent  upon  his  performance  in  a  single  course  puts  an  enormous  strain  upon 
the  personal  equation  of  both  teachers  and  administrators.  A  wise  policy  reduces  this 
to  a  minimum;  the  teacher's  task  in  fairly  judging  a  student's  deserts  in  his  own 
course  alone  is  delicate  enough,  without  weighting  the  scale  with  a  whole  series  of  other 
consequences.  It  would  seem  to  have  been  a  better  plan  to  keep  on  requiring  examina- 
tions until  the  institutions  whose  credits  could  be  trusted  were  recognized,  and  then  to 
accept  credit  from  them  unconditionally.  If  students  from  schools  holding  this  privi- 
lege made  poor  records,  the  school  could  then  be  deprived  of  the  certificate  privilege, 
and  its  students  be  again  required  to  take  examinations;  in  any  case  the  status  of  any 
given  student  would  always  be  settled.  Elsewhere  this  plan  has  worked  to  the  mutual 
satisfaction  of  schools  and  students.  Certain  efforts  were  made  in  this  direction  by 
utilizing  the  "approved  list "  of  high  schools  drawn  up  by  the  state  university,  but 
the  other  method  seemed  plausible  as  well  as  more  simple ;  it  was  certainly  far  more 


1  The  following  announcements  are  typical :  "  The  first  Monday  of  each  term  will  be  devoted  to  examination  for 
admission  to  the  different  classes.  After  examination,  students  are  assigned  to  the  classes  which  they  are  qualified 
to  enter."  Catalogue,  JZirJcsville,  1879,  page  18.  "Students  are  admitted  to  any  term  or  year  on  examination,"  Cata- 
logue, Warrensburg,  1889,  page  23.  "The  preliminary  examination  for  admittance  to  the  normal  classes  is  both 
oral  and  written.  Students  will  be  admitted  to  any  class  upon  passing  a  satisfactory  examination  in  the  preceding 
studies  of  the  course.'1  Catalogue,  Cape  Girardeau,  1897,  page  7. 

2  Reference  to  these  begins  in  the  catalogue  of  1882  at  Warrensburg,  and  in  1885  at  Kirksville. 

8  Thus:  "Grades  accepted  by  the  departments  will  not  be  placed  on  the  general  record  until  the  last  term  of  the 
year  in  which  the  student  expects  to  graduate."  Catalogue,  Warrensburg,  1899,  page  14.  See  similar  statement, 
Catalogue*  KirJcsville,  1897,  page  28. 


ADMISSION  AND  CLASSIFICATION  OF  STUDENTS  309 

agreeable  to  the  student  to  be  released  from  examinations,  and  the  policy  was  soon 
generally  adopted.1 

The  decade  beginning  with  1900  brought  rapid  expansion  and  reorganization.  Since 
1882  Warrensburg,  and  probably  the  other  schools,  had  allowed  high  school  gradu- 
ates to  finish  the  course  in  one  year.2  In  1899  Warrensburg  increased  her  requirements 
to  two  years,3  for  graduates  of  approved  first  class  high  schools,  and  in  1904?  this  was 
agreed  to  by  the  others.  According  to  the  plan  of  this  agreement,  more  time  was  to 
be  required  of  graduates  from  second  and  third  class  schools,  and  applicants  from 
unapproved  schools  not  holding  teachers'  certificates  were  to  be  examined;  Kirks ville, 
however,  reserved  the  right  to  assign  any  credentials  whatever  value  she  chose  without 
examination.4 

REORGANIZATION  OF  THE  SECONDARY  PROGRAM 

After  1904  a  student  who  went  thru  high  school  required  six  years  beyond  the 
eighth  grade  to  obtain  his  normal  school  diploma,  while  students  who  went  to  the  nor- 
mal school  directly  from  the  eighth  grade  could  combine  their  secondary  and  profes- 
sional studies,  and  finish  both  in  four  or  five  years'  time ;  and  large  numbers  did  so.  The 
next  problem,  therefore,  was  to  convert  this  old  four-year  normal  school  curriculum 
into  a  six-year  curriculum  requiring  as  much  from  students  who  attended  the  normal 
school  only  as  from  those  who  first  completed  high  school.  This  duty  was  not  frankly 
faced.  It  could  have  been  well  discharged  in  one  of  two  ways :  either  by  adding  two 
years  of  genuine  collegiate  and  professional  work  to  the  old  secondary  curriculum,  or 
by  pushing  up  the  old  course  and  building  in  two  good  years  of  secondary  work  at 
the  bottom.  Neither  alternative  was  followed;  the  old  curriculum  was  indeed  advanced 
by  two  years,  but  instead  of  requiring  new  work  below  it,  the  old  "sub-normal"  en- 
trance requirements  were  transferred  bodily  to  this  uncertain  gap  between  the  ele- 
mentary school  and  the  old  curriculum  which  had  been  thus  advanced. 

The  same  eighth  grade  subjects  were  covered,  a  little  more  intensively  to  be  sure, 
in  one  or  two  semesters,  so  that  any  mature  youth  could  fill  out  irregularities  in  his 

1 "  Graduates  of  High  Schools,  approved  by  the  Missouri  State  University,  will  be  admitted  to  advanced  standing 
without  examination."  "Applicants  for  advanced  standing-  who  have  done  work  out  of  school  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  competent  teachers  may  be  given  credit  for  such  work,  but  the  faculty  will  reserve  the  right  to  examine," 
etc.  Catalogue,  Cape  Girardeau,  1902,  page  12. 

**  Graduates  from  High  Schools  and  Academies  enumerated  in  the  Approved  List'  of  the  university  will  be  ad- 
mitted to  classification  on  presenting  certificates  of  graduation,  but  before  final  credit  is  given  the  student  must 
establish  his  claim  by  satisfactory  work.  The  usual  entrance  examinations  are  for  classification  only.  In  lieu  of  these 
a  candidate  for  admission  must  present  a  valid  certificate  of  any  grade,  or  recent  standings  from  any  good  school." 
Catalogue,  Warrensburg  1894,  pages  24  if.  Reference  to  the  "approved  list"  of  the  university  was  omitted  in  the 
next  catalogue, 

"  Grades  furnished  from  Colleges,  High  Schools,  and  Academies  will  be  accepted  by  heads  of  departments  after 
the  students  presenting  the  same  have  shown  approved  proficiency  in  similar  studies."  Catalogue,  Kirksville,  1894, 
page  16. 

2  Apparently  Warrensburg  alone  made  definite  provisions  for  such  students  in  a  special  curriculum. 
2  Catalogue,  1899,  page  12, 

4  After  stating  the  terms  of  the  agreement,  the  Kirksville  catalogue  proceeds :  "  But  this  Institution  prefers  to  ad- 
mit and  classify  all  students  on  the  evidences  of  scholarship  furnished  by  their  grade  cards,  certificates,  diplomas, 

etc.,  and  without  examination We  therefore  seek  to  make  rules  of  classification  so  flexible  as  to  recognise  fully 

the  merits  of  each  school  and  each  individual  student"  Catalogue,  Kirksville,  1904,  page  18. 


810  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

elementary  schooling,  and  still  count  it  all  as  secondary  work.1  This  case  of  appar- 
ently bad  faith  with  the  high  schools,  the  best  of  which  were  now  requiring  in  their 
first  year  a  full  program  of  secondary  work  in  algebra,  ancient  history,  Latin,  and  so 
forth,  —  almost  exactly  the  same  as  the  first  year  of  the  regular  normal  program  two 
years  beyond, — had  an  explanation  that  should  not  be  overlooked,  tho  it  hardly 
justifies  the  course  taken.  Most  of  the  students  coming  to  the  normal  schools  were 
attending  but  a  few  terms  in  order  to  obtain  teaching  privileges,  and  were  not  bent 
on  following  out  a  complete  curriculum.2 For  them  good  review  courses  were  essential. 
The  better  students  who  did  go  on,  however,  especially  those  who  had  taught,  passed 
over  these  "review"  courses  hurriedly,  and  after  a  few  weeks'  work  to  "prove  up"" 
presently  found  themselves  in  possession  of  a  mass  of  credits  representing  half  of  a 
high  school  curriculum,  but  leaving  no  corresponding  deposit  in  their  education.  It 
would  have  been  better  for  the  schools  at  this  point  either  not  to  have  counted  such 
work  for  secondary  credit,  or  else  to  have  created  real  professional  courses  of  such  a 
nature  as  to  require  the  attendance  of  all  who  had  not  actually  taken  them.3 

"PROVING  UP"  POLICY  ESTABLISHED 

"Entrance  requirements"  were  thus  all  but  completely  swallowed  up  in  the  reor- 
ganized secondary  program.  Examinations  for  admission  disappeared,4  and  "proving 

1  The  school  at  Kirksville,  after  trying  in  vain  to  merge  its  "  sub-normal "  course  with  the  eighth  grade  of  its  "  Model 
School"  (Catalogue,  1901,  page 27),  solves  the  problem  thus  in  1902  (Catalogue,  page  18):  "Sub-normal  Course.  A  thor- 
ough and  systematic  teachers'  course  in  the  subjects  that  all  teachers  must  know.  One  class  in  arithmetic,  rigorous, 
searching1,  thorough,  old-fashioned  mental  and  written  arithmetic.  One  good  thorough-going  grammar  class  [etc., 
etc.,  for  history,  civil  government,  and  physiology].  It  is  not  an  ordinary  course.  It  is  not  by  ordinary  men.  It  is  not 
eighth  grade  work"  (Our  italics.)  But  the  English  department  in  the  same  catalogue  (page  32)  states  that  this  gram- 
mar class  is  for  "all  who  are  deficient "  precisely  as  it  did  in  the  years  before  when  it  was  clearly  eighth  grade  work 
(Catalogue,  1901,  page  20). 

2  The  importance  of  these  first  two  years  for  low  grade  teachers  is  evident  from  the  Rural  Certificate  Course,  which 
until  1916  required  nothing  further. 

8  The  two-year  gap  existing  after  1900  between  the  elementary  school  and  the  normal  school  curriculum  was  first  con- 
sistently filled  at  Warrensburg  in  1909,  by  inserting  two  years  of  English,  algebra  and  geometry,  ancient  and  mod- 
ern history,  foreign  language  or  science  Kirksville  since  1908  has  scheduled  two  years'  work,  of  which  the  first  con- 
sisted of  "common  school  subjects"  repeated.  Cape  Girardeau  in  1908  adopted  a  secondary  course  of  fifteen  units 
including  the  same  review  courses.  Springfield  did  the  same  with  fourteen  units,  raised  to  fifteen  the  next  year.  And 
Maryville  in  1911  laid  out  two  full  years'  work  for  a  "  Common  School  Certificate" — a  mixture  of  reviews  with  high 
school  and  professional  work. 

*  The  evolution  at  Kirksville  is  interesting ;  significant  points  are  italicised. 

Catalogue,  1899,  page  14:  ""All  persons  applying  for  admission  to  the  Sub-Normal  School  course  shall  be  subjected 
to  a  thorough  examination  in,'*  etc  (five  subjects).  "  All  persons  applying  for  admission  to  the  Normal  School  proper 
shall  be  subjected  to  a  thorough  examination  in  all  subjects  of  the  sub-normal  school  course  and  no  person  whose 
average  falls  below  60%  shall  be  admitted  to  either." 

Ibid,,  page  10:  "MINUTES  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  REGENTS,  June  15, 1899.  Standing  obtained  recently  in  High  Schools, 
Academies,  and  Colleges  on  the  approved  list  of  the  State  University  will  be  accepted  by  this  institution,  after 
satisfactory  examination  in  any  one  subject  agreed  upon  by  the  applicant  and  the  President  of  this  institution." 

Catalogue,  1900,  page  36:  "Standing  obtained  recently  in  High  Schools,  Academies  and  Colleges  on  the  approved 
list  of  the  University  will  be  accepted  by  this  institution."  "All  students  are  requested  to  bring  with  them  their 
grade  cards,  certificates,  diplomas  and  other  documents  showing  their  standing  in  schools  heretofore  attended  by 
them."  (No  'mention  of  an  entrance  examination  occurs  In  the  catalogue.) 

Catalogue*  1901,  page  43 :  "  Bring  all  your  grade  cards,  certificates  and  diplomas."  "  Avoid  examinations  by  bring- 
ing: these  credentials."  "Examinations  on  entering  a  school  are  as  worrisome  to  the  Faculty  and  President  as  they 
are  to  the  student." 

Catalogue,  1902,  page  8:  "If  the  students  maintain  themselves  creditably  in  the  advanced  work  ,  . .  the  grades 
brought  from  other  institutions  are  approved." 

Bulletin,  December,  1902,  page  5:  (This  plan)  "simply  places  every  student  on  his  own  merits.  ...  It  gives  each 
student  opportunity  to  graduate  in  the  shortest  possible  time."  "We  desire  [page  6]  to  avoid  the  labor,  annoyance 


ADMISSION  AND  CLASSIFICATION  OF  STUDENTS  311 

up"  became  the  standard  procedure.  By  this  system  credentials,  of  course,  lose  their 
importance,  and  are  neglected  in  proportion  to  the  extent  to  which  it  is  proposed 
to  rely  upon  a  student's  class  work.  Warrensburg  alone  appears  to  demand  and  file 
specific  original  credentials  for  all  grades  allowed.1  All  of  the  schools  follow  the  prac- 
tice of  admitting  and  classifying  the  student  on  his  own  representations,  and  not  until 
he  becomes  definitely  a  candidate  for  a  certificate  or  diploma  are  his  papers  asked 
for  even  at  the  schools  that  require  them  for  graduation.  In  granting  advanced  stand- 
ing, none  of  the  normal  schools,  save  Warrensburg,  appears  to  distinguish  effectively 
between  approved  and  unapproved  high  schools  as  rated  by  the  state  superintendent. 
When  such  distinction  is  made,  the  tendency  is  to  discount  more  or  less  the  total 
amount  of  unapproved  credit  without  reference  to  individual  subjects.  Thus  eight 
units  from  an  unapproved  school  may  be  cut  down  to  six  to  penalize  the  school,  but 
no  notice  will  be  taken  of  the  student's  deficient  preparation  in  the  subjects  studied. 

UNIFORM  ADMINISTRATION  OF  ADMISSION  REQUIREMENTS  NEEDED 

The  experience  of  the  normal  schools  in  the  administration  of  their  en  trance  require- 
ments contains  some  instructive  suggestions.  In  the  first  place  it  is  clearly  impossi- 
ble to  arrive  at  a  satisfactory  method  of  procedure  without  cooperation,  either  volun- 
tary or  enforced.  To  have  one  of  five  state  schools  that  exist  to  do  the  same  work  ad- 
vertise admission  by  examination  and  another  offer  to  take  any  one  "on  his  merits," 
otherwise  determined,  while  the  policies  of  the  rest  range  somewhere  between,  is  de- 
moralizing. It  shakes  public  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  the  system,  and  it  leads  to 
evasion  and  equivocation  in  the  institution.  School  authorities  that  would  have  been 
glad  to  follow  the  rating  of  the  state  superintendent  freely  admitted  that  it  was 
impossible  "  because  the  others  don't  do  it."  No  one  knows  exactly  what  the  "others1** 
do,  but  suspicion  and  rumor,  together  with  the  tales  of  migrant  students,  keep  a  tangle 

and  embarrassment  of  examinations.  Where  a  student  has  no  school  credentials,  a  letter  from  some  well-known 
teacher  or  other  person  connected  with  schools  will  be  helpful." 

Thus  the  "merit  system  **  was  firmly  established  and  "  No  Examinations"  became  a  headline  attraction  in  the 
prospectus  (Bulletin,  March,  1906,  page  4).  From  this  time  on,  students  from  any  source  were  welcomed  at  Kirksville 
and  "proved  up"  by  placing-  them  where  they  claimed  to  belong-  regardless  of  credentials,  and  if  they  could  "do 
the  work," — that  is,  if  they  could  get  a  passing  mark, — earlier  claims,  often  even  of  a  dissimilar  character,  were 
validated. 

Cape  Girardeau  adopted  the  same  plan,  more  reservedly,  but  no  less  effectively: 

Catalogue,  1904,  page  12:  "  Other  applicants  for  admission  may  be  admitted  by  examination,  or  on  presentation 
of  such  other  evidences  ...  as  the  faculty  may  require." 

Catalogue,  1905,  page  15:  Same  statement,  omitting  reference  to  examinations. 

Catalogue,  1908,  page  21  (referring  to  students  without  credentials) :  "The  usual  practice  is  to  classify  a  student  as 
seems  best  after  looking-  carefully  into  his  work  done  in  other  schools  before  entering  the  normal  school.  An  entrance 
examination  is  not  usually  required." 

In  the  catalogue  of  1914  reference  is  made  to  "completion  of  an  eight-grade  school,  or  work  of  equivalent  value," 
as  a  minimum  requirement,  but  allusion  follows  to  possible  "  conditions**  and  no  mention  is  made  of  examinations. 

Springfield,  from  its  establishment  in  1906,  accepted  and  practised  the  Kirksville  doctrine ;  **  without  examina- 
tion" is  the  only  formula  contained  in  its  bulletins. 

Warrensburg  alone,  of  the  five  schools,  has  maintained  in  its  bulletins  a  clear  and  consistent  examination  require- 
ment for  such  work  as  could  not  be  certified  on  the  basis  of  state  (specified  in  full  after  1908)  approval.  Its  procedure 
with  students  lacking  even  elementary  school  diplomas  has  been  much  the  same  as  in  the  other  schools. 

Maryville  followed  Warrensburg's  specifications  until  1910,  when  the  conditions  of  admission  became  vague  and 
references  to  examinations  were  omitted. 
1  See  page  336, 


812  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

of  mutual  charges  always  afloat  When  Kirksville  in  1904  refused  to  enter  Into  a  joint 
agreement,  and  proceeded  to  let  down  the  bars  to  any  one,  the  other  schools  were 
practically  compelled  to  follow  at  a  greater  or  less  distance,  with  the  result  that 
each  school  has  since  practised  a  vague  compromise  governed  largely  by  its  "  inter- 
pretations "  of  the  candidate,  and  of  his  papers  when  he  had  any. 

It  is  quite  indispensable  that  in  a  matter  of  this  sort  unity  should  prevail  on  the 
basis  of  clearly  reasoned  principles,  and  that  such  agreement  should  include  not  only 
the  principles  but  their  actual  administration.  In  event  of  the  consolidated  adminis- 
tration proposed  elsewhere,  the  permits  for  admission  could  be  issued  at  a  central 
office.  Even  under  present  conditions,  the  simplest  possible  arrangement  would  be  to 
have  all  credit  for  admission  and  for  advanced  standing  for  any  normal  school  first 
determined  at  the  state  department,  the  agency  already  charged  with  inspection  and 
rating  of  the  institutions  from  which  nine-tenths  of  the  students  come.  This  should 
be  done  regardless  of  the  school  at  which  the  credentials  were  to  be  presented;  the 
student  would  then  make  his  choice. 

WHAT  SHOULD  BE  THE  METHOD  OF  ADMISSION? 

As  for  the  terms  themselves  on  which  students  should  be  admitted,  it  is  sufficiently 
obvious  that  the  "proving  up"  method  is  a  delusion.  Two  main  interests  are  involved: 
first,  the  standards  of  the  normal  schools,  and  second,  the  welfare  of  the  educational 
system  from  which  their  students  are  drawn.  As  already  pointed  out,  the  admission 
of  students  who  are  untested  or  unreliably  vouched  for  introduces  two  seriously  dis- 
turbing influences:  the  presence  of  such  students  tends,  in  proportion  to  their  num- 
ber, to  change  the  standard  of  instruction  and  achievement  wholly  for  the  worse ;  and 
secondly,  each  is  likely  to  become  a  "special  case"  unwarrantably  engaging  a  teach- 
er's sympathy  for  himself  instead  of  promoting  devotion  to  the  soundness  of  that 
remoter  public  service  for  which  he  is  being  prepared.  The  poverty  and  vocational 
need  of  many  such  students  brings  an  overwhelming  pressure  to  bear  on  "the  teacher, 
as  is  substantially  shown  in  the  review  of  student  ratings.1  Any  rational  system  of  ad- 
mission that  wiH  prevent  this  relaxation  of  classroom  standards,  and  tend  to  obviate 
what  amounts  to  a  perversion  of  the  normal  school  teacher's  singleness  of  motive, 
should  be  welcome. 

The  other  consideration  suggested  is  the  part  played  by  the  normal  school  as  an 
institution  in  the  educational  structure  of  the  state.  It  may  be  granted  for  the  moment 
that  each  normal  school  could  "prove  up"  each  applicant  successfully  and  without 
damage  to  itself,  and  that  it  has  done  so,  receiving  its  students  from  all  kinds  of  schools 
upon  virtually  the  same  footing.  Even  thus  it  is  important  to  consider  what  differ- 
ence would  now  appear  in  the  high  schools  of  Missouri  if  these  five  normal  schools 
had  from  the  -outset  announced  and  enforced  their  new  joint  requirement2  as  stated 
in  the  Springfield  catalogue  of  1917:  "All  persons  who  expect  credits  for  work  done 

1  See  page  321.          3  Entered  into  since  this  study  was  begun. 


ADMISSION  AND  CLASSIFICATION  OF  STUDENTS  SIS 

in  unclassified  high  schools  or  unaccredited  academies  or  colleges  will  be  required  to 
take  examination.1''  "  No  one  can  afford  to  attend  an  unapproved  school."1  The  influ- 
ence of  the  university  in  improving  and  maintaining  the  standards  of  the  larger  high 
schools  thru  just  this  means  has  been  incalculable;  the  normal  schools,  working  in 
constant  touch  as  they  have  with  the  smaller  schools,  could  certainly  have  wielded 
the  same  or  even  greater  influence  in  guiding  their  development.  When  this  is  the 
case,  surely  no  school  or  group  of  schools  has  the  right  to  stand  out  from  concerted 
action  for  the  sake  of  independent  ambitions.  As  the  Missouri  schools  have  come  to 
see,  a  fair  and  thorough  examination  is  the  only  just  form  of  entrance  requirement 
for  persons  whose  educational  history  is  not  understood  and  vouched  for  by  other 
competent  agencies.  Until  well-standardized,  objective  tests  can  take  its  place,  any 
other  method  is  as  demoralizing  as  that  of  a  bank  which  should  extend  unlimited 
credit  to  a  new  customer  without  enquiring  into  his  resources. 

Second  in  importance  only  to  the  examination  requirement  for  admission  from  un- 
approved  schools  is  the  need  of  requiring  students  who  offer  approved  credit  to  bring, 
in  due  form,  reliable  evidence  of  their  past  work.  This  again,  aside  from  safeguarding 
the  normal  school,  involves  the  twofold  purpose  of  breeding  in  the  student  a  respect 
for  educational  requirements  at  least  equal  to  that  for  ordinary  business  obligations, 
and  of  keeping  the  contributing  elementary  and  secondary  schools  conscious  of  their 
duty  on  the  same  account.  During  the  Missouri  visits  it  was  found  that  such  normal 
schools  as  persistently  required  proper  evidences  of  previous  training  had  apparently 
little  difficulty  in  securing  them,  while  those  that  failed  to  require  them  were  emphatic 
in  the  assertion  that  the  schools  had  no  records,  that  it  would  be  too  much  trouble 
for  the  teachers  and  principals  to  provide  them,  that  to  ask  them  was  unjust  to  the 
student,  and  similar  untenable  excuses.  As  in  the  matter  of  examination  for  unap- 
proved  work,  a  relentless  demand  for  a  clear,  signed,  and  dated  statement  of  the 
student's  previous  work,  on  a  blank  issued  preferably  by  the  state  department,  and 
deposited  in  original  form  with  the  school,  would  serve  by  just  so  much  to  stimulate 
the  small  high  school  to  clear  thinking  and  a  sense  of  its  responsibility  to  its  pupils. 

b.  CLASSIFICATION  OF  STUDENTS 

The  prevailing  principle  of  classification  of  students  in  the  normal  schools  has  been 
described  above:  the  student  states  orally  his  qualifications  and  is  classified  accord- 
ingly. In  certain  subjects,  such  as  language  and  mathematics,  a  respect  for  sequence 
must  of  necessity  be  preserved,  but  only  such  as  is  unavoidable  in  that  subject.  It 
should  not  be  supposed  that  there  is  no  modal  form  of  curriculum;  the  majority  of 
students  can  hardly  fail  to  follow  a  certain  broad  groove.  But  the  real  test  of  such  a 
system  is  to  be  found  in  the  number  and  character  of  the  exceptions  permitted.  These 
leave  an  observer  with  the  distinct  impression  that  each  course  is  regarded  much  as 
a  pot  of  dye  in  which  any  applicant  for  credit  may  be  dipped  without  regard  to  his 

1  Catalogue,  Springfield,  page  13. 


314  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

age,  maturity,  scholastic  attainment.,  or  teaching  experience,  or  to  the  relation  of  these 
various  factors  with  the  corresponding  characteristics  of  other  members  of  the  class. 
The  asset  of  similar  mental  equipment  in  a  class  unit  setting  out  upon  a  cooperative 
intellectual  undertaking  seems  wholly  unprovided  for  if  not  undiscovered ;  where  it 
exists,  it  exists  by  accident.1 

PROCEDURE  AT  KIRKSVILLE 

The  system  operates  with  the  greatest  latitude  at  Kirksville,  where  it  started. 
"Those  who  remain  .  .  .  know  what  they  have  to  take;  those  .  .  .  from  outside  know 
what  they  need.  So  classification  is  completed  in  less  than  a  day.  Indeed  classification 
almost  governs  itself.""12  "Almost  "seems  superfluous  in  describing  the  practice  of  1915* 
On  the  opening  day  all  teachers  range  themselves  about  the  large  gymnasium  and 
the  student  moves  from  one  stand  to  another  cafeteria-wise,  making  up  his  program 
as  best  he  can  from  the  catalogued  offerings.  No  teacher  is  responsible,  and  each 
naturally  desires  a  full  department;  hence,  as  one  high  in  authority  expressed  it,  "a 
student  may  take  whatever  he  can  get  a  teacher  to  sign  up  to,  and  that  is  almost 
anything.'"'  The  bewildered  newcomer  chooses  his  faculty  adviser  after  the  registra- 
tion, lest  there  be  undue  influence  brought  to  bear  on  his  elections.  Even  then  these 
advisers  are  denied  access  to  the  credentials  and  records  of  the  advisee,  if  there  be  any, 
so  that  their  advice  is  never  of  other  than  a  general  nature.3  Lacking  official  direc- 
tion, the  student  consults  some  friend  who  knows  the  school.  It  was  said  that  the  * 
members  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  Y.  W.  C.  A.  (!)  were  especially  helpful  in  counseling 
students  as  to  what  courses  to  take,  but  students  declared  that  usually  "one  must 
expect  to  lose  the  first  quarter's  work  "  because  of  not  knowing  how  to  choose.  The 
head  of  the  institution  may  be  called  upon  to  settle  disputed  points,  but  endeavors, 
as  he  explained,  not  to  interfere  unless  obliged  to.  The  whole  procedure  impresses 
one  as  a  plan  primarily  devised  to  ensure  to  each  teacher  nominally  equal  terms  of 
competition  for  students9  with  the  president  as  umpire  in  the  contest. 

COMPOSITION  OF  CLASSES  THUS  FORMED 

The  composition  of  the  classes  put  together  in  the  above  fashion  agrees  with  what 
one  would  expect  under  the  circumstances.  A  class  in  the  "Teaching  of  Advanced 
English"  was  typical, — excellently  led,  but  found  to  consist  of  students  few  of  whom 
had  yet  had  any  collegiate  English,  and  including  several  who  had  not  yet  completed 

1  Theoretically  there  is  a  simple  and  efficient  guide  for  this  system  of  classification.  As  explained  especially  at  Kirks- 
ville, Cape  Girardeau,  and  Springfield,  each  student  is  watched  carefully  after  enrolment,  and  if  he  cannot  "  do  the 
work  "  in  a  given  class,  he  is  dropped  and  required  to  enroll  elsewhere.  Aside  from  the  confusion  to  the  class  and  loss 
of  time  to  the  student,  this  plan  might  work  if  carefully  administered,  but  the  class  records  of  these  three  schools 
seem  to  show  that  students  neither  fail  nor  are  dropped  in  any  such  proportion  as  a  system  of  this  kind  would  inev- 
itably require.  (For  further  discussion  see  page  322,  note  2.) 
3  Bulletin  III,  No.  2, 1903,  page  14. 

3  At  other  schools,  particularly  at  Cape  Girardeau,  a  system  of  "  sponsors,"  assigned  to  a  student  according  as  his 
work  is  distributed,  is  used  with  apparent  effectiveness  to  keep  the  student  advised  on  all  features  of  his  work 
including  the  making  of  his  program. 


ADMISSION  AND  CLASSIFICATION  OF  STUDENTS  315 

required  secondary  English,  yet  all  were  expecting  to  teach  English  in  high  schools, 
and  were  receiving  their  sole  professional  instruction  for  the  purpose  at  this  point.1 

Subjects  are  not  confined  to  students  of  a  certain  "  year"  or  grade  of  advancement, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  speak  of  such  groupings  at  Kirksville.  Thirty-seven  classes 2  were 
carefully  analyzed  as  to  the  attainments  of  their  members,  and  of  these  six  contained 
students  having  to  their  credit  sufficient  work  to  be  rated  in  each  of  the  eight  years 
of  the  secondary  and  college  curricula;  one  class  only  was  confined  to  students  in  as 
few  as  two  such  grades,  and  the  median  as  well  as  modal  range  of  distribution  covered 
five  years.  Most  classes  showed  a  certain  modal  "year"  of  membership,  which  made  it 
possible  to  calculate  the  proportion  of  members  above  and  below  such  mode.  No  class 
proved  to  have  fewer  than  thirty  per  cent,  while  over  a  third  had  more  than  sixty  per 
cent  of  their  membership  outside  of  the  normal  "year"  of  advancement.  More  than 
two-thirds  of  the  classes  contained  both  secondary  and  collegiate  students;  thir- 
teen were  attended  chiefly  by  secondary  students  and  the  same  number  contained  a 
majority  of  college  students.  Two  had  secondary  students  only  and  seven  had  college 
students  only;  two  were  confined  to  students  of  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  college 
years. 

Similarly  with  the  elements  of  age  and  teaching  experience:  students  less  than 
twenty  years  of  age,  usually  with  no  teaching  experience,  are  classified  indifferently 
with  students  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  of  age,  or  even  older,  who  have  taught  for 
many  years.  Among  the  thirty-seven  classes  above  examined,  twelve  had  more  than 
ten  per  cent  of  their  students  in  each  of  these  extreme  age  groups ;  three  had  twenty 
per  cent  in  each  extreme  group.  In  point  of  teaching  experience  of  their  members, 
these  thirty-seven  classes  ranged  from  three,  in  which  ten  per  cent  or  fewer  had 
experience,  thru  every  percentile  decade  to  two  classes  in  which  one  hundred  per  cent 
had  had  experience. 

The  conditions  just  described  at  Barks ville  are  not  peculiar  to  that  school,  but  occur 
elsewhere  even  more  strikingly  in  some  respects.  Comparisons  should  not  be  made, 
however,  between  the  schools,  as  the  classes  analyzed,  tho  fairly  representative  of  the 
school,  are  not  chosen  equally  from  the  same  subjects  or  departments  in  each  school, 
nor  do  they  constitute  the  same  proportion  of  all  the  classes  in  each  school. 

Such  a  mingling  of  age,  standing,  and  experience  involves  necessarily  a  like  jumble 
of  aims  in  all  but  a  very  few  of  the  courses,  and  with  this  the  educational  validity 
of  the  system  breaks  down  completely.  What  can  an  inexperienced,  seventeen-year- 
old  girl,  part  way  thru  her  secondary  work  and  expecting  to  teach  in  a  one-room 
school,  find  in  common  as  a  fellow  student  with  a  college  woman  twenty-five  years  of 
age  who  has  taught  for  several  years  and  is  finishing  her  preparation  for  teaching 

1  At  other  schools,  the  same  condition  appeared  in  classes  visited:  a  class  in  psychology  with  all  years  of  high  school 
represented;  a  class  in  geography  varying:  from  poor  eighth  grade  to  good  third  year  high  school;  a  class  in  plane 
geometry  containing  new  high  school  students  and  several  teachers,  who  had  taken  the  subject  and  had  come 
back  for  review. 

2  These  were  selected  with  the  intention  of  getting  from  each  department  a  fair  representation  of  classes  that  would 
test  the  features  here  discussed. 


316  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

high  school  English?  Yet  the  ancient  and  mystic  formula  that  "they  are  both  to  be 
teachers"  is  invoked  as  overshadowing  all  distinctions,  even  the  most  glaring.  To  any 
one  not  under  the  spell  of  this  unctuous  myth,  such  combinations  indicate  nothing 
but  thoughtless  and  wasteful  administration,  or  worse — a  multiplication  for  the  sake 
of  collegiate  impress! veness  of  parallel  electives,  most  of  which  would  have  to  disap- 
pear if  a  rational  classification  were  enforced.  If  it  be  argued  that  all  this  was  due  to 
the  variety  of  material  and  situation  with  which  the  school  was  confronted,  the  reply 
is  simply  that  a  school  that  claims  to  have  recognized  standards  should  select  and  work 
its  material  to  these  standards.,  and  not  adapt  its  standards  to  whatever  conditions 
its  over-ambitious  program  may  produce. 

In  their  method  of  classification  the  other  schools  differ  considerably  from  Kirks- 
ville.  Warrensburg,  Cape  Girardeau,  and  Mary  ville  entrust  the  matter  to  experienced 
committees  of  the  staff,  requiring,  except  at  Warrensburg,  the  final  approval  of  the 
president  in  each  case.  At  Springfield  the  president  himself  undertakes  to  perform  as 
much  of  the  actual  classification  as  possible,  but  is  assisted  on  opening  days  by  selected 
members  of  the  staff.  These  methods,  especially  the  first,  seem  to  have  resulted  in 
a  more  discriminating  classification  than  at  Kirksville,  where  the  students  in  effect 
classify  themselves  and  advice  is  given  only  when  requested,  but  the  salutary  effect 
is  probably  still  greater  in  increasing  the  sense  of  security  and  direction  that  the  stu- 
dent must  feel  in  having  authoritative  guidance. 

FIXED  CURRICULA  THE  ONLY  SOLUTION 

The  simplest  and,  in  the  judgment  of  the  present  critics,  the  only  thoroughly  safe 
way  out  of  such  difficulties  as  have  been  described  consists  in  the  establishment  of 
fixed  professional  curricula  designed  to  embody  the  best  possible  training  for  definite 
objectives,  and  the  admission  to  such  curricula  of  those  students  only  who  are  fully 
qualified  to  undertake  them.  Normal  school  attendance  outside  of  full  participation 
in  such  curricula  should  not  be  permitted  until  after  graduation,  and  then  only  for 
advanced  courses  especially  designed  and  offered  for  teachers  in  service.  By  this  ar- 
rangement departmental  rivalry  vanishes  and  "classification  governs  itself"  in  the  only 
legitimate  fashion.  The  problem  of  varying  attainment  and  different  aims  at  once  dis- 
appears; these  gone,  the  difficulties  of  mixed  age  and  experience  grow  vastly  less,  and 
ultimately  become  negligible  even  without  rigid  regulation.  It  is  firmly  believed  that 
the  normal  schools  can  reach  their  greatest  effectiveness  only  by  this  course. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  present  elective  system  must  be  retained,  the  matter  of 
classification  should  at  once  be  erected  into  a  capital  problem  for  the  expert  study 
of  the  department  of  education,  to  which  it  naturally  belongs,  and  its  administration 
should  be  entrusted  to  skilled  officers — not  the  already  overburdened  presidents — de- 
tailed for  the  purpose,  who  will  give  each  case  adequate  attention  from  a  purely  edu- 
cational point  of  view.  Classes  should  certainly  be  reduced  to  a  relatively  homogene- 
ous standard  of  attainment.  The  reasons  for  this  are  obvious  to  any  one  who  has  seen 


STUDENT  PROGRAMS  317 

young  students  suffer  from  the  aggression  of  advanced  monopolists  in  the  same  class, 
or  who  has  seen  the  real  quality  of  an  advanced  class  vitiated  by  the  teacher's  attempt 
to  meet  all  stages  of  mental  development.1  Such  a  measure  would  involve  at  least  the 
anchoring  of  courses  to  certain  years  of  a  student's  progress^  and  thereby  would  do 
much  to  clarify  the  situation.  Such  an  arrangement  likewise  would  offer  a  fair  solution 
for  the  problem  of  transition  from  secondary  to  college  work — the  line  at  which  the 
normal  schools  have  hitherto  felt  most  acutely  the  shortcomings  of  their  system  of 
classification.2 

5.  Student  Programs 
SPEED  THE  STUDENT'S  CENTBAL  CONSIDERATION 

The  question  of  how  much  work  a  student  may  "take"  conditions  the  further  ques- 
tion of  how  soon  a  student  may  graduate,  and  the  latter  may  not  incorrectly  be  re- 
garded as  the  central  consideration,  from  the  student's  point  of  view,  in  his  attendance 
upon  a  Missouri  normal  school.  It  is  true  that  in  other  states  the  normal  school  may 
be  and  is  quite  as  much  of  a  vocational  institution  as  in  Missouri,  but  when  for  a 
fixed  and  orderly  professional  program  covering  a  definite  period,  there  is  substituted 
an  elective  scheme  which  may  be  followed  a  term  at  a  time,  in  summer  or  in  winter,  in 
almost  any  combination  of  studies,  and  having  a  given  number  of  points  as  the  chief 
goal,  a  completely  different  attitude  may  arise.  Such  is  the  case  in  Missouri.  Instead 
of  facing  complacently  the  fixed  requirements  of  his  course  as  a  whole,  the  ambitious 
student  is  bound  to  ask:  What  is  the  shortest  space  of  time  into  which  I  can  crowd 
enough  courses  to  get  the  sixty -hour?  ninety-hour,  or  one  hundred- twenty-hour  di- 
ploma, as  the  case  may  be.  And  this  demand  for  speed  is  undoubtedly  the  potent 
factor  in  many  irregularities.  Granted  the  loose  system  above  outlined,  much  can  be 
explained.  Students  need  certificates  and  diplomas  as  capital  for  earning  power,  and 
the  normal  school  is  the  only  official  agency  for  their  issue  without  examination.  Press- 
ure is  very  great  to  hasten  them  by  the  validation  of  old  and  questionable  "grades," 
the  conversion  of  experience  into  credit,  the  shortening  or  omission  (with  credit)  of 
66 non -essential5'  courses,  the  introduction  of  private  " courses"  by  sympathetic  teach- 
ers, as  well  as,  finally,  by  programs  swollen  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  ability  of  the 
student.  The  hope  and  purpose  of  the  institutions  to  increase  their  numbers  for  the 
sake  of  the  weight  a  large  school  has  with  the  legislature  works  toward  the  same 

1  In  view  of  ttie  fact  that  general  mixture  of  class  membership  has  been  customary  in  the  normal  schools  for  many 
years,  it  is  surprising  to  find  that  of  the  one  hundred  and  four  instructors  who  expressed  themselves  in  writing'  on 
these  points,  as  many  as  seventy-two  felt  that  the  situation  was  damaging  to  the  schools  and  should  be  corrected ;  the 
rest  thought  that  little  or  no  harm  resulted,  tho  some  of  these  had  classes  in  which  the  difficulty  did  not  exist.  The 
following  are  some" of  the  comments:  "Discourages  the  weak;  bores  the  strong."  "Strong  students  set  impossible 
pace."  "Hard  to  adapt  reference  work  and  general  discussion."  "Slow  require  much  specific  attention,"  "Imma- 
ture overwork  and  are  shy."  "Time  wasted,  interest  lags,  standards  lowered,"  "Hard  to  adjust  methods  to  all." 
"Viewpoint  too  varied  for  uniform  work." 

3  A  simple  rule  announced  at  Cape  Girardeau  since  1910  requires  that  all  secondary  work  must  be  done  or  scheduled 
before  collegiate  work  may  be  taken.  So  far  as  amount  of  work  is  concerned,  this  would  appear  satisfactory  as  applied 
to  such  students  as  had  no  access  to  high  schools.  This  rule  is  of  little  aid  to  any  particular  course,  however,  unless 
the  course  be  limited  to  students  of  a  certain  grade  or  at  least  to  those  having  certain  prerequisites. 


318  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

end;  to  attract  and  hold  students,  speed  is  made  easy  by  the  allowance  of  credit  for 
every  form  of  student  activity — society  work,  debating,  baseball;  by  the  removal 
of  entrance  requirements,  by  abandoning  or  devitalizing  class  examinations,  by  the 
low  pass  mark,  by  the  frequent  repetition  of  courses,  and  by  the  omission  of  pre- 
requisites. 

MUCH  PRESSURE  FOR  EXCESSIVE  PROGRAMS 

Of  these  various  methods  of  acceleration  the  excessive  program  has  been  the  most 
obvious  to  the  student.1  Without  some  formal  system  of  defence,  the  petitions  of  the 
student  are  irresistible :  he  pleads  that  any  number  of  mere  review  courses  ought  to  be 
allowed;  one  extra  subject  will  bring  the  diploma  by  August,  when  funds  are  gone, 
and  ensure,  thereafter,  a  school  appointment;  why  make  an  experienced  teacher  of 
thirty  follow  the  program  of  the  student  of  eighteen?  and  so  forth.  Furthermore  it 
is  true,  certainly,  that  a  few  students  in  every  group  have  unusual  mental  grasp,  can 
satisfy  thorough  examinations  by  private  work,  and  can  maintain  a  heavy  program 
at  a  high  standard.  For  such  minds  the  best  possible  facilities  should  be  arranged, 
but  the  observer  has  misgivings  when  such  students  are  said  to  number  a  third  or 
more  of  the  total  enrolment. 

PRESENT  PRACTICE  :  COLLEGIATE  PROGRAMS 

Three  of  the  schools,  Kirksville,  Warrensburg,  and  Mary ville,  after  much  laxness 
earlier,  have  dealt  with  this  situation  successfully,  and  in  1914  were  enforcing  limi- 
tations of  student  programs  in  a  systematic  and  adequate  manner.2  Noteworthy,  too, 
Is  the  extent  to  which  Warrensburg  has  reduced  partial  programs,  and  has  brought 
the  great  bulk  of  her  attendance  to  a  common  load  of  work.  Springfield  has  not 
been  so  successful.  More  than  one-fifth  of  the  year's  programs  are  above  normal,  while 
nearly  one-third  are  below. 

The  situation  at  Cape  Girardeau  diflers  materially  from  that  at  the  other  schools. 
Previous  to  1907,  the  twenty-hour,  or  four-unit,  standard  of  the  other  schools  was  in 
force.  In  that  year  the  requirement  for  the  junior  and  senior  college  years  was  reduced 
to  fifteen  hours  per  week,  doubtless  in  order  to  approximate  more  closely  regular  college 
programs.3  In  1908  the  program  of  the  first  two  years  was  reduced,  and  a  minimum  of 
one  hundred  eighty  term  hours,  equaling  one  hundred  twenty  semester  hours,  was 
announced  for  the  degree  of  A.B.4  This  was  clearly  a  credit  basis  of  fifteen  hours  per 
week,  and  has  been  maintained  ever  since;  the  maximum  was  set  at  fifteen  hours  for 
junior  and  senior  college  classes,  and  eighteen  for  freshman  and  sophomore  classes, 
except  as  increased  by  faculty  permission.5 

1  One  normal  school  graduate  seriously  recommended  attending  the  school  by  single  terms  on  the  ground  that  one 
could  load  up  for  a  term  with  an  amount  of  work  intolerable  for  the  year,  and  thus  save  time  in  the  end. 

2  See  pages  434, 435. 

8  Catalogue,  Cape  Girardeau,  1907,  page  27. 
4  Ibid,  1908,  page  86.          5  Ibid .,  1910,  page  83. 


STUDENT  PROGRAMS  319 

On  this  basis,  program-making  among  the  college  students  at  Cape  Girardeau 
came  to  the  following  results  in  1913-14: l  In  the  case  of  students  attending  the  reg- 
ular session,2  one-fifth  of  the  programs  were  below  normal,3  and  three-fifths  were  in 
excess  of  normal;  nine  per  cent  are  scheduled  for  twenty  hours  or  more  per  week.  In 
spite  of  the  formal  distinction  made  between  upper  and  lower  classmen  as  to  num- 
ber of  hours  permitted,  the  proportions  given  above  apply  about  equally  to  all  classes. 
Twenty-five,  or  three  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  programs,  were  rated  as  senior, 
and  of  these  forty  per  cent  were  for  eighteen  hours  or  more;  of  the  one  hundred  sev- 
enty-nine junior  programs,  fifty-four  per  cent  were  similarly  extended. 

Whether  or  not  it  requires  any  particular  ability  to  be  allowed  to  take  a  heavy 
program  at  Cape  Girardeau  does  not  appear.  It  is  clear  that  forty  per  cent  of  the  col- 
legiate attendance  may,  by  taking  eighteen  hours  or  more  of  class  work,  acquire  the 
necessary  one  hundred  eighty  term  hours  of  credit  in  three  and  one-third  years  or 
less.  Furthermore,  by  the  preferential  system  of  rating,  in  use  at  Cape  Giraideau  since 
1918,  a  student  who  does  somewhat  better  than  the  average  and  is  marked  "B"  is 
allowed  fifteen  per  cent  additional  credit,  and  the  "  A  *  student  is  allowed  thirty  per 
cent.  A  person,  therefore,  who  takes  eighteen  hours  of  work  and  secures  an  "  A"  rating 
receives  a  bonus  of  upwards  of  forty  term  hours*'  credit  and  may  finish  his  one  hundred 
eighty  hours  in  two  years  and  two  terms,  or,  if  he  receives  a  "B"  rating,  in  three  years 
with  six  hours  to  spare.  As  "A"  and  "B"  ratings  constituted  about  a  third  of  the 
school's  total  ratings  for  1913-14,  it  is  evident  that  this  is  no  merely  theoretical  ad- 
vantage. To  be  sure,  relatively  few  remain  at  Cape  Girardeau  for  advanced  work,4 
but  credits  earned  on  the  above  basis  are  carried  wherever  the  student  goes;  except 
that,  oddly  enough,  the  school  does  not  certify  the  bonus  for  excellence  elsewhere  than 
on  its  own  diploma — a  form  of  student  solicitation  that  can  hardly  be  commended. 

Cape  Girardeau  shows  marked  differences  from  the  other  schools  in  the  sharp  drop 
taken  in  the  programs  of  students  attending  only  in  the  summer:  over  three-fifths 
are  below  normal,  while  scarcely  one-tenth  rise  even  slightly  above.  The  other  schools, 
particularly  Kirksville,  make  a  remarkably  even  showing  in  this  respect,  maintaining 
about  the  same  load  in  both  sections  of  their  attendance. 

SECONDARY  PROGRAMS 

The  secondary  programs  of  all  five  schools  are  comparable.  Springfield  is  unique 
in  permitting  a  great  number — nearly  one-third — of  partial  secondary  programs, 
while  Warrensburg  maintains  the  same  distinction  shown  in  her  collegiate  programs, 

1  See  page  484. 

2 The  programs  followed  by  students  coming  only  in  the  summer  were  abnormally  small,  the  median  being-  actu- 
ally below  the  normal  number  of  hours.  This  disguises  somewhat  the  situation  during  the  rest  of  the  year  if  only 
the  total  of  both  sessions  be  considered. 

3  "  Normal "  is  here  reckoned  as  fifteen  or  sixteen  hours.  At  the  other  schools  one  and  one-quarter  hours*  credit  is 
allowed  for  a  five-hour  unprepared  course  in  addition  to  the  regular  twenty-hour  schedule. 

*  The  proportion  of  collegiate  programs  taken  by  seniors  was  three  per  cent,  and  several  of  these  were  made  early  in 
the  year  before  the  student  attained  senior  rating. 


OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL   SCHOOLS 

and  brings  ninety  per  cent  of  her  students  to  a  standard  load  of  work ;  the  remaining 
ten  per  cent  is  certainly  ample  to  provide  for  programs  that  are  in  fact  exceptional 
without  being  merely  arbitrary.  Cape  Girardeau  again  far  outdoes  all  the  others  in 
the  amount  of  credit  which  she  allows.  In  the  regular  session  sixty-five  per  cent  of 
the  programs  are  made  out  for  five  secondary  units  per  year  or  more,  altho  the  stand- 
ard definition  of  these  units  is  "  one-fourth  of  a  year's  work."  In  two  years  and  one 
summer  session  many  of  these  secondary  students  secure  credit  that  would  admit  them 
to  a  college  or  university  conditioned  in  but  one  unit  of  work ;  not  to  speak  of  the 
fifteen  and  thirty  per  cent  bonus  allowed  In  addition  for  excellence,  which  for  "B" 
students  would  nearly  cut  off  the  above  mentioned  summer  session,  and  for  "  A" 
students  would  fully  admit  without  condition  on  two  years'  work  with  half  a  unit 
to  spare.  Such  lavish  bestowal  of  credit  011  the  part  of  a  reputable  institution  is  an 
injustice  to  students,  to  other  institutions,  and  to  the  public. 

TIME  REQUIRED  FOR  PREPARATION 

At  three  schools,  Kirks ville,  Warrensburg,  and  Maryville,  the  students  were  asked 
to  report  on  the  average  amount  of  time  spent  in  preparation  of  each  lesson.  The 
differences  shown  in  the  results  were  marked.  The  "Warrensburg  student  of  every  grade 
spends  from  half  an  hour  to  one  hour  on  his  work,  while  at  the  other  schools  the  median 
student  spends  half  an  hour  more.  There  may  be  some  connection  between  this  fact 
and  the  larger  proportion  of  programs  at  Kirksville  and  Maryville  that  have  less  than 
the  standard  number  of  hours.  The  more  uniform  achievement  at  Warrensburg  may 
be  due  to  a  shortened  period  of  preparation.  At  all  schools  the  men  give  less  time  to 
study  than  the  women ;  and  in  general  the  secondary  student  spends  slightly  less  time 
than  the  collegiate  student. 

Is  THE  STANDARD  OF  CREDIT  IN  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  TOO  Low? 

With  the  exceptions  already  noted,  the  Missouri  normal  schools  appear  to  have 
regulated  the  size  of  student  programs  with  success.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the 
educational  commonwealth  at  large,  it  would  seem  fair  to  ask  whether  their  standard 
is  not  still  too  low.  When  four  credit  units  is  the  recognized  norm  for  a  year's  per- 
formance in  secondary  work  the  country  over,  why  should  four  and  one-half  be  al- 
lowed here  ?  Certainly  if  these  schools  are  to  do  their  share  in  maintaining  for  the 
country  as  a  whole  a  definite  interchangeable  standard,  they  should  conform  more 
nearly  to  the  general  practice  in  this  respect. 


STUDENT  RATING  :  EXAMINATIONS  821 

6.  Student  Rating1:  Exammatloiis 
SELECTIVE  FUNCTION  OF  RATINGS 

The  measurement  of  the  results  of  student  effort  and  the  correct  estimate  of  the 
quality  of  the  product  naturally  play  an  important,,  if  not  decisive,  part  in  determin- 
ing the  status  of  a  given  educational  institution.  Some  means  of  education,  such  as 
libraries,  are  relatively  passive;  their  effect  must  be  observed  indirectly.  Other  agen- 
cies, like  most  colleges  and  high  schools,  profess  to  organize  their  efforts  to  ensure  a 
certain  standard  of  assimilation  of  what  they  offer,  and  they  assume  the  responsibil- 
ity for  ascertaining  whether  or  not  that  standard  has  been  reached.  In  other  words, 
they  are  consciously  selective  institutions.  Indeed,  the  standards  that  they  set  up  are 
determined  in  no  small  degree  by  the  extent  to  which  they  propose  to  serve  a  selec- 
tive function.  If  all  who  present  themselves  at  a  given  institution  are  uniformly  ac- 
cepted and  passed  thru  its  processes,  it  is  justly  inferred  that  no  standards  of  selec- 
tion exist ;  if  selection  is  desirable  at  all,  it  must  of  necessity  occur  later,  when  these 
individuals  are  in  active  service.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  third  of  the  candidates  are 
disqualified,  either  at  entrance  or  in  the  course  of  their  training,  from  receiving  final 
approval,  it  is  a  reasonable  inference  that  the  institution  is  at  least  taking  an  active 
part  in  defining  its  product  and  in  rejecting  unsatisfactory  results,  whatever  may  be 
said  of  the  appropriateness  of  its  requirements. 

THE  PRACTICE  IN  MISSOURI 

For  a  period  of  about  ten  years,  from  1875  to  1885,  the  Missouri  normal  schools 
made  use  of  an  examining  board  consisting  of  the  presidents  of  the  three  institutions 
existing  at  that  time  and  the  state  superintendent  of  public  schools.  Candidates  for 
graduation  were  first  recommended  by  the  teachers,  and  were  then  examined  before 
this  board,  which  met  successively  from  school  to  school.  Before  and  after  this  period, 
the  responsibility  for  determining  the  requisite  qualifications  of  a  graduate  rested 
wholly  with  his  instructors.  The  same  plan  is  followed  now;  each  term-course,  that 
is,  each  two-and-one-half-hour  unit  of  each  curriculum,  is  complete  in  itself,  and  con- 
tributes its  rating  to  the  final  result,  unmodified  by  any  general  test.  What  these 
ratings  were  for  the  year  1913-14*  is  shown  in  a  table  elsewhere  which  is  complete 
for  the  entire  year  for  all  of  the  schools.1 

A  clear  idea  of  the  situation  may  be  had  simply  by  inspecting  the  proportion  of 
failures  when  arranged  in  order  of  departments  and  divided  between  secondary  and 
collegiate  subjects. 

Secondary  classes,  made  up  of  fresh  arrivals,  belated  students,  applicants  for  "ap- 
proved grades,"  and  other  unsorted  material,  show  but  five  per  cent  of  rejections,  with 
a  maximum  of  eight  per  cent  in  English ;  while  collegiate  classes  in  which  the  pro- 
fessional work  of  the  school  is  concentrated,  turn  back  fewer  than  two  in  a  hundred 

1  See  page  435. 


OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

PERCENTAGES  OP  FAILURE  IN  SECONDARY  AND  COLLEGIATE  COURSES 

Secondary  Collegiate 

English                                    8.3                                 English  8.7 

History                                     6.5                                  Mathematics  2.5 

Foreign  Languages                 6.3                                  History  2.3 

Mathematics                            5.9                                  Professional  Subjects  1.8 

Music                                        5.4*                                  Household  Arts  1.8 

Professional  Subjects              3.9                                  Science  1.4 

Science                                     3.6                                  Manual  Arts  1.4 

Manual  Arts                            1.6                                  Music  1.0 

Household  Arts                      1.1                                 Physical  Training  .7 

Art  and  Expression                 1.0                                  Foreign  Languages  .5 

Commercial  Subjects               .9                                 Library  Economy  .3 

Art  and  Expression l  4.4 

Commercial  Subjects1  3.4 

All  Subjects  5.4  All  Subjects  1.9 

registrations,  in  spite  of  the  number  of  fresh  and  untested  minds  that  come  in  from 
all  sorts  of  high  schools.  The  actual  proportions  range  from  one  and  three-tenths  per 
cent  at  Kirksville  to  two  and  six-tenths  per  cent  at  Springfield.  It  was  generally 
urged  in  explanation  of  the  low  proportion  of  failures,  that  these  had  been  forestalled 
by  shifting  during  the  term  those  who  were  unable  to  keep  up;  they  would  therefore 
appear  among  "dropped"  students.  Further  enquiry  showed,  however,  that  most  of 
these  persons  probably  left  their  classes  for  other  reasons  than  failure.2  The  total 
index  of  selection,  even  with  every  allowance  made,  is  undeniably  small.  It  is  not 
likely  that  the  Missouri  normal  schools  make  any  greater  effort  to  correct  their  in- 
itial classification  than  do  good  institutions  elsewhere,  yet  these  other  institutions 
show  a  normal  elimination  that  is  much  higher.  Most  of  the  Missouri  normal  schools 
take  pride  in  the  fact  that  their  ratings  follow  the  normal  probability  curve  as  em- 
phasized latterly  at  the  University  of  Missouri,  but  as  they  appear  to  consider  this 

1  The  high  proportion  of  collegiate  failures  shown  in  the  departments  of  Art  and  Expression  and  in  Commercial  Sub- 
jects is  due  to  one  school  in  each  case  and  is  evidently  exceptional. 

2  "  Dropped"  students  may  have  dropped  a  course  in  order  to  lighten  their  work,  or  to  enroll  in  a  course  better  suited 
to  their  degree  of  advancement,  or  they  may  have  left  school  altogether  for  outside  reasons.  It  is  of  some  importance 
to  know  which  of  these  events  occurred.  Omitting  Maryville,  the  schools  lost  in  1913-14, 531  students,  who  left  in  mid 
term  before  their  work  was  completed.  The  reasons  for  these  withdrawals  could  not  be  ascertained,  but  it  isnotlikely 
that  they  were  other  than  would  be  true  of  a  similar  group  in  any  year,  and  in  1917  the  schools  explained  withdrawals 
of  this  nature  as  follows:  At  Kirksville,  in  the  fall  term  of  1917,  students  withdrew  to  take  teaching  positions,  or  be- 
cause of  sickness,  or  because  they  were  needed  on  farms  or  in  stores,  but  none  withdrew  because  of  failure.  At  War- 
rensburg,  "leaving  school  before  the  end  of  the  term,  as  a  general  thing,  is  caused  by  sickness  or  the  need  of  their 
services  at  home.  There  is  hardly  ever  a  case  on  account  of  low  grades."  At  Cape  Girardeau,  the  largest  number  left 
to  teach,  others  on  account  of  sickness,  business,  marriage,  or  finances,  and  about  one-eighth  because  of  failure.  At 
Springfield,  exact  numbers  were  not  available,  but  eight  per  cent  was  given  as  the  regular  annual  mid-term  loss,  and 
failure  was  assigned  as  the  last  of  four  reasons  for  it.  On  the  whole,  ten  per  cent  would  seem  a  fair  allowance  for 
the  failures  among  these  complete  withdrawals.  Assuming  that  each  withdrawal  from  school  would  affect  an  aver- 
age of  four  subjects,  a  total  of  2124  canceled  registrations  would  result,  ten  per  cent  of  which  might  be  for  fail- 
ure. There  being  but  2178  canceled  registrations  all  told  from  these  schools,  the  balance  of  54  cancellations  must 
account  for  students  who  dropped  their  courses  but  did  not  withdraw  from  school.  Distributed  among  four  schools 
and  throughout  four  terms,  this  number  of  changes  in  classification  is  hardly  important,  even  if  we  assume,  as  is 
scarcely  credible,  that  all  changes  not  due  to  withdrawal  were  due  to  failure.  On  the  whole,  one  must  conclude 
that  dropping  students  from  class  for  the  purposes  of  better  classification  is  not  a  marked  feature  of  Missouri  prac- 
tice. (The  contribution  of  Warrensburg  to  the  above  calculation  is  for  1915-16.) 


STUDENT  RATING  :  EXAMINATIONS 

distribution  as  applying  to  their  "passing"  grades  exclusively,  its  use  loses  signifi- 
cance. 

The  order  of  departments  in  respect  to  failure  is  noteworthy.  Altho  these  are 
schools  for  the  preparation  of  teachers  professionally,  the  main  selection  in  collegiate 
as  well  as  secondary  courses  is  exercised  by  the  academic  departments  of  English, 
mathematics,  and  history;  professional  subjects  and  household  arts  are  tied  for  fourth 
place. 

COMPARISON  WITH  HARRIS  TEACHERS  COLLEGE 

The  most  significant  comparison  that  could  be  made  in  this  matter -is  with  the 
Harris  Teachers  College  at  St.  Louis.1  The  present  regulations  there  admit  without 
examination  only  students  having  average  high  school  records  equal  to  the  minimum 
general  average  of  the  upper  two-thirds  of  the  graduates  from  St.  Louis  high  schools. 
Previous  to  191S,  however,  the  college  admitted  any  graduate  from  an  accredited  four- 
year  high  school,  and  from  September,2  1910,  to  1913  had  had  three  hundred  thirteen 
graduates  on  this  basis.  Eighty-five  per  cent  of  them  came  from  St.  Louis  public  high 
schools — admittedly  a  superior  system  of  schools — and  were  therefore  probably  bet- 
ter prepared  for  academic  work  than  the  group  attending  the  state  normal  schools. 
The  table  below  shows  the  failures  of  these  graduates  in  the  course  of  their  two-year 
curriculum.  About  sixty  others  dropped  out  before  completing  the  course,  "many  of 
them  on  account  of  inability  to  measure  up  to  the  standards  set  by  the  college."  The 
failures  of  these  latter  students  would  of  course  largely  increase  the  percentages  were 
they  included,  as  similar  failures  are  included  in  the  tables  from  the  state  schools.3 

Altho  in  one  case  we  are  considering  the  failures  of  a  given  group  throughout  their 
course,  while  in  the  other  case  we  have  all  of  the  school's  ratings  for  a  given  year, 
the  results  seem  sufficiently  comparable  for  our  present  purpose.  As  already  pointed 
out,  the  terms  of  comparison  favor  the  state  schools,  yet  they  fall  far  behind  in  their 
proportion  of  selection. 

It  would  at  first  appear  that  the  same  relative  order  of  departments  occurred  here 
as  in  the  state  schools,  and  that  the  professional  subjects  were  low  in  the  list.  It  should 
be  remembered,  however,  that  at  Harris  Teachers  College  the  courses  in  English, 
arithmetic,  history,  and  so  forth,  are  all  strictly  teaching  courses  that  bear  directly 
upon  the  students'  future  work,  whereas  at  the  state  schools  they  are  of  an  almost 


1  Lest  Harris  Teachers  College  be  regarded  as  exceptional,  a  state-supported  school  outside  of  Missouri  may  be 
cited.  The  state  normal  school  at  Upper  Montclair,  New  Jersey,  exhibits  a  proportion  of  failures  during-  the  second 
half-year,  191T-18,  of  5.5  per  cent.  The  critical  subjects  are :  English  grammar,  14  per  cent ;  arithmetic,  11.4  per  cent 
(first  term  alone,  28.8  per  cent):  History  of  Education,  10.6  per  cent. 

At  the  University  of  Missouri  during  the  same  year  for  which  the  state  normal  schools  were  studied,  the  failures 
in  "under  courses" — those  most  comparable  with  the  collegiate  work  of  the  normal  schools — numbered  5,6  per 
cent  in  the  first  semester,  and  6.7  per  cent  in  the  second  semester.  The  corresponding'  freshman  failures  in  the  College 
of  Arts  were  10.8  per  cent  and  8.2  per  cent 

2  The  date  of  the  last  previous  revision  of  the  curriculum. 

8  The  "dropped'*  students  in  state  tables  refer  only  to  those  leaving:  before  the  end  of  the  quarter —  an  insignificant 
number  compared  to  those  who  leave  at  the  end  of  the  term  without  completing  the  curriculum. 


824  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

PERCENTAGES  OF  FAILURE  1  AMONG  313  GRADUATES  OF  HAB.HIS  TEACHERS  COLLEGE,  1910-13 

English  22.4 

Arithmetic  16.9 

Science  8.9 

History  7.3 

Penmanship  6.7 

Geography  6".  4 

Music  6.4 

Drawing  5.1 

Psychology  3.2 

Primary  2.2 

Reading  1.6 

Hygiene  .9 

Observation,  Upper  Grades  .3 

History  of  Education  .3 

Child  Psychology  .3 

Physical  Training  .3 

All  Subjects  2  6.5 

purely  academic  nature.  In  the  state  tables,  "teaching  courses"  in  these  subjects  are 
included  among  the  "  professional  courses  "  which  average  together  but  one  and  eight- 
tenths  per  cent  of  failure. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  realize  the  situation  in  the  state  schools  without  scan- 
ning the  actual  class  lists.  Thus  at  Kirksville,  where  the  proportion  of  failures  in 
professional  subjects  is  lowest  (one  per  cent),  out  of  two  hundred  ninety  registrations 
in  the  fall  term  there  was  only  one  failure  (practice  teaching).  In  the  winter  there 
were  three  hundred  thirty-five  registrations  and  ten  failures,  eight  of  them  in  classes 
taught  by  academic  instructors  and  involving  subject-matter  such  as  teaching  of 
history  and  teaching  of  arithmetic.  In  the  spring  there  were  three  hundred  forty-six 
registrations  and  six  failures,  three  in  practice  teaching  and  two  in  the  teaching  of 
history.  In  the  summer  nine  hundred  twenty-four  enrolments  were  recorded  in  the 
professional  department,  and  one  solitary  individual  failed  to  pass;  this  one  was  in 
a  class  in  the  teaching  of  arithmetic  taught  by  an  academic  instructor.  Elementary 
psychology  enrolled  one  hundred  forty-one  students,  including  many  fresh  from  high 
school  and  other  new  students  from  the  country  round  seeking  "approved  grades'5 
for  their  certificates,  yet  not  one  of  this  heterogeneous  group  failed  to  pass  the  course. 
The  showing  elsewhere  is  not  much  better.  Is  it  surprising  that  teachers  of  academic 
subjects  look  askance  on  the  department  of  "pedagogy"?  What  hope  is  there  for 
a  true  perspective  in  teacher-preparing  institutions,  or  indeed  for  popular  respect  for 
the  study  of  education  at  all,  when  it  figures  thus  in  its  own  stronghold?  Teachers 
of  education  at  large  are  charged  with  undermining  academic  standards,  and  as  long 
as  instances  such  as  these  remain,  they  will  have  difficulty  in  disproving  the  charge. 

1  Failure  at  this  school  involves  repeating  the  subject. 

2  Of  the  above  subjects  drawing,  music,  English,  penmanship,  and  physical  training  occur  in  three  terms ;  primary 
and  science  in  two  terms ;  and  the  remainder  in  one  term  each. 


STUDENT  RATING  :  EXAMINATIONS  5£5 

SEASONAL  CHANGES  IN  STUDENT  FAILURE 

The  seasonal  effect  upon  passing  grades  at  the  normal  schools  is  interesting  and 
very  marked.1  Warrensburg  maintains  the  most  consistent  record  throughout  the 
year;  but  all  except  Cape  Girardeau  reach  a  minimum  of  failures  in  the  summer  ses- 
sion— the  session  of  largest,  most  varied,  and  least  familiar  enrolment.  In  its  total 
showing,  the  record  of  failures  for  the  remainder  of  the  year  is  halved  in  the  summer. 
Among  collegiate  students  the  proportion  ranges  from  1.9  per  cent  at  Warrensburg 
to  .6  per  cent  at  Kirksville. 

RELATION  OF  EXAMINATIONS  TO  ELIMINATION 

One  is  tempted  to  seek  at  least  a  partial  explanation  for  the  above  conditions  in 
the  methods  whereby  student  work  is  tested  at  the  several  institutions,  but  to  carry 
out  a  completely  satisfactory  correlation,  much  more  exact  information  would  be  ne- 
cessary than  is  at  present  available.  In  such  departments  of  instruction  as  are  likely  to 
control  their  work  in  the  usual  way,  that  is,  by  periodic  "tests"  and  a  final  examina- 
tion,2 some  two  hundred  fifty  courses  were  described  in  detail  by  the  teachers  in  the 
various  schools.  At  Springfield,  where  the  largest  total  elimination  takes  place,  about 
two-thirds  of  the  courses  were  reported  to  use  tests  and  a  final  examination,  having 
together  an  average  weight  of  about  one-third  in  the  final  estimate;  over  one- fourth 
used  "tests"  alone,  and  the  remainder  (five  per  cent)  used  neither.  At  Cape  Girar- 
deau four-fifths  of  the  reported  courses  gave  important  weight  to  a  final  examination, 
while  but  one  course  dispensed  with  tests  of  any  sort.  Warrensburg  reports  half  and 
Mary ville  all  but  one  as  using  final  examinations.  Five  per  cent  at  Warrensburg  and 
none  at  Maryville  dispense  with  tests  altogether.  At  Kirksville  a  different  theory  has 
prevailed.  Examinations  of  all  kinds  have  been  officially  taboo  in  favor  of  the  practice 
whereby  the  class  is  expected  to  "break  new  ground  on  the  last  day."  As  a  result,  over 
two-fifths  of  the  classes  reported  from  Kirksville  take  no  form  of  examination.  In 
one-third  of  them,  however,  the  teachers  confess  to  basing  part  of  their  estimate  of 
attainment  upon  "tests,"  while  in  one-fourth  of  the  cases  the  teacher  avows  the  use 
of  a  final  examination  as  well.  Now  it  is  noteworthy  that  in  the  departments  of  Eng- 
lish and  of  history,  where  the  elimination  is  highest  (eight  and  seven  per  cent),  and 
which  offset  thereby  an  almost  complete  absence  of  failure  elsewhere,  nine  out  of  four- 
teen classes  report  the  use  of  final  examinations,  and  three  more  the  use  of  " tests;" 
only  two  follow  the  tradition  of  the  school  and  give  neither  test  nor  examination.  In 
science,  on  the  other  hand,  with  its  two  per  cent  of  failures,  seven  out  of  eight  classes 
go  untested  and  none  are  examined.  The  science  department  at  Cape  Girardeau,  with 
twice  as  many  failures,  uses  tests  and  examinations  in  each  of  the  sixteen  classes 
reported.  In  professional  subjects  more  than  a  third  of  the  classes  reported  at  Kirks- 
ville undergo  neither  tests  nor  final  examinations;  nearly  half  use  tests  alone,  and  the 

1  See  page  435. 

2  The  departments  here  considered  were  English,  mathematics,  history,  foreign  languages,  science,  and  education. 


326  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

elimination  is  less  than  one  per  cent.  Elsewhere  in  these  subjects  every  class  reported 
is  either  "tested"  or  examined,  over  two-thirds  receiving  final  examinations;  and  the 
elimination  is  two  or  three  per  cent.  In  spite  of  the  difference  in  the  use  of  examina- 
tions, however,  the  variation  in  elimination  is  so  slight,  and  the  absolute  amount  is 
so  small  in  nearly  every  case,  that  the  condition  seems  referable  chiefly  to  some  more 
fundamental  cause. 

WHY  THE  NOBMAL  SCHOOLS  ARE  NON-SELECTIVE 

It  is  probable  that  a  variety  of  reasons  contribute  to  make  the  Missouri  state  normal 
schools  the  non-selective  institutions  they  are.  In  the  first  place  they  are  not  required 
to  be  otherwise.  The  great  demand  for  teachers  resulting  from  general  propaganda, 
from  state  aids,  and  from  local  salary  regulations  favoring  teachers  with  special  prepa- 
ration, enables  the  normal  school  to  place  virtually  its  entire  product  without  difficulty 
and  regardless  of  quality.  The  exceedingly  varied  and  elastic  scale  of  requirements  in 
the  different  communities  favors  this,  as  does  the  financial  condition  of  the  students 
themselves,  most  of  whom  are  glad  to  take  what  they  can  get.  This  is  a  different  condi- 
tion from  that  confronting  the  Harris  Teachers  College.  Its  field  of  demand  is  strictly 
limited  and  of  uniform  quality.  When  it  raised  its  entrance  requirements  in  191S, 
it  was  expressly  seeking  a  means  to  forestall  an  over-production  of  teachers,  and  it 
was  obliged  either  to  stiffen  its  admission  requirements  or  to  lengthen  the  curriculum 
to  three  years. 

This  lack  of  a  compelling  environment  is  nevertheless  only  the  opportunity  for  the 
existing  condition  and  not  by  any  means  its  cause.  The  normal  schools,  as  at  present 
conducted,  do  not  desire  to  be  selective  institutions.  Their  tradition  is  to  "do  some- 
thing for  the  needy  student  who  is  straggling  for  an  education,4"  and  not  to  select 
and  prepare  fit  agents  for  public  service.  It  has  been  to  their  interest  to  welcome  and 
retain  as  long  as  possible  every  applicant,  strong  or  weak;  large  enrolments,  the  spec- 
tacle of  doing  everything  for  the  community,  and  "harmony""  at  all  hazards  have  been 
the  real  objectives.  Such  aims  do  not  accord  with  a  selective  function  or  permit  of  it. 
It  is  obvious  from  its  table  of  failures  alone  that  the  Harris  Teachers  College  is 
endeavoring  to  use  its  diploma  in  a  discriminating  way  to  guarantee  the  city  of  St. 
Louis  superior  teachers,  and  it  is  just  as  obvious  that  the  state  schools  are  almost 
completely  indifferent  to  the  way  in  which  they  mark  their  product. 

This  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  state  normal  schools  is  needless  and  injurious, 
and  ought  to  be  changed.  State  support  and  control  in  professional  education  ought 
to  imply  a  guarantee  of  good  and  trustworthy  standards  consistently  enforced.  The 
state's  brand  on  a  teacher  should  mark  a  properly  selected  and  thoroughly  prepared 
and  tested  instructor,  fit  to  teach  in  the  finest  schools  of  the  state.  As  it  is,  the  best 
developed  school  systems  avoid  the  state's  label  and  are  compelled  to  ask  for  state 
funds  with  which  to  prepare  teachers  of  their  own.  It  is  doubtful  whether  a  change 
can  be  brought  about  in  this  respect  except  under  a  centralized  system,  where  the 


STUDENT  RATING  :  EXAMINATIONS  3S7 

competition  for  size  ceases  to  dominate  each  move,  and  where  a  uniformly  stable  and 
effective  educational  policy  can  be  formulated  and  enforced. 

LACK  OF  THOROUGH  EXAMINATIONS  A  SOURCE  OF  WEAKNESS 

Further,  those  who  have  studied  the  schools  for  the  purpose  of  the  present  report 
are  convinced  that  the  system  of  instruction  unaccompanied  by  examinations  as  fol- 
lowed in  Missouri,  particularly  at  Kirks  ville,  is  a  source  of  weakness  rather  than 
strength.  The  purpose  of  a  final  examination  in  a  subject  is  to  ensure  on  the  part  of 
the  student  not  only  the  opportunity  for  a  comprehensive  review  and  thorough  organ- 
ization of  the  material,  but  the  actual  accomplishment  of  those  ends.  An  examina- 
tion has  farther  significance  as  a  moral  tonic  of  no  slight  value;  the  persistence  and 
self-control  required  in  preparation,  the  prolonged  concentration  of  attention,  the 
need  of  meeting  adequately  an  important  intellectual  challenge — all  of  these  are 
situations  that  recur  again  and  again  in  life.  It  is  especially  proper  that  the  profes- 
sional servants  of  the  public  should  be  tested  repeatedly  in  this  manner.  Education 
for  its  own  sake  may  seek  to  avoid  difficulties,  but  the  public  has  the  right  to  expect 
that  professional  preparation  for  its  service  shall  make  its  teachers  certain  of  their 
ground,  shall  sift  out  the  weak,  and  shall  give  tone  and  masterful  quality  to  strong 
minds.  So  far  as  could  be  observed,  examinations  were  omitted,  to  quote  Kirksville's 
admission,  because  they  were  "embarrassing"  and  uncomfortable,  and  for  that  rea- 
son only.  Like  selection  of  any  sort,  they  involve  distinctions  which  are  disagreeable, 
but  which,  in  some  form,  no  respectable  institution  can  shirk.  All  would  prefer,  of 
course,  a  series  of  comprehensive  and  reliable  objective  tests.  Lacking  these,  a  fair  and 
thorough  examination  has  advantages  for  such  purposes  that  far  outweigh  any  other 
plan  hitherto  devised. 

Examinations  entail  certain  abuses,  such  as  excessive  "cramming,"  worry,  nervous 
tension,  and  so  forth,  which  proper  regulations  for  admission  and  preparation  can 
largely  prevent.  The  chief  abuse  in  their  present  application  in  American  schools  is 
much  more  fundamental.  Given  immediately  at  the  end  of  a  term,  semester,  or  year's 
course  in  a  subject,  their  tendency  is  (1)  to  magnify  details  or  systematic  arrange- 
ments of  material  to  be  acquired  memoriter  for  the  purpose,  without  ensuring  a  just 
perspective  for  lasting  use,  and  (£)  once  over,  to  supply  the  student  with  an  irrevo- 
cable license  to  forget  completely  the  matter  thus  handled.  As  a  consequence,  the 
student  continually  fails  to  review  the  field  at  such  distance  as  to  allow  its  large 
and  really  important  features  to  stand  out  in  clear  relief  and  to  take  their  places  in 
relation  to  other  studies  as  a  permanent  possession.  It  would  be  of  particular  value 
if  students  in  a  limited  professional  field,  in  addition  to  periodic  tests  during  the 
course  itself,  could  be  held  responsible  for  a  general  examination  at  the  end  of  the 
curriculum  covering  the  essential  features  of  all  their  courses  in  relation  to  one  an- 
other. They  would  thus  have  a  constant  stimulus  to  careful,  discriminating  thought 
relieved  of  non-essentials,  and  would  acquire  for  their  efforts  an  organized  possession 


OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

of  the  whole  much  more  likely  to  be  permanent  than  the  scattered,  unrelated  impres- 
sions with  which  they  now  leave  school.  Where  this  method  has  been  introduced,  as 
recently  in  examinations  for  the  universities  in  England,  at  Teachers  College,  New 

York,  and  at  Harvard  University,  it  has  been  uniformly  successful. 


7.  Administration  of  Credit 

The  recognition  and  assignment  of  credit  is  a  vital  matter  in  school  administra- 
tive procedure.  It  defines  the  educational  standards  of  an  institution  and  assumes  to 
measure  by  them  the  attainment  of  the  student.  This  process  is  important  in  any  edu- 
cational organization.  In  a  public  vocational  institution  it  acquires  singular  promi- 
nence because  of  the  constant  pressure  to  convert  studious  effort  into  capital  for  bread- 
winning;  in  a  normal  school  there  is  superadded  the  subtle  significance  of  the  inter- 
pretation of  credit  as  a  factor  in  the  creation  of  true  ideals  in  young  teachers.  The 
discrimination  with  which  credit  is  given  for  quantity  and  quality  of  student  work  is 
therefore  a  critical  measure  of  the  extent  to  which  an  institution  discharges  its  edu- 
cational as  well  as  its  administrative  responsibility.  Moreover,  as  a  balance-wheel  for 
steadying  or,  when  erratic,  for  disturbing  the  movement  of  a  school's  internal  affairs, 
the  administration  of  credit  is  of  exceptional  importance. 

No  exhaustive  examination  of  procedure  in  granting  credit  was  made  in  this  en- 
quiry; the  purpose  was  rather  to  secure  sufficient  familiarity  with  the  current  practice 
to  enable  a  trustworthy  judgment  to  be  formed.  The  conditions  in  each  school  were 
carefully  studied,  and  their  development  and  tendencies  were  noted  by  tracing  back 
the  careers  of  recent  graduates.  Conferences  with  school  officers,  with  teachers,  and 
with  many  students  served  to  throw  light  on  the  matter.  Inasmuch  as  the  situation 
differs  materially  at  each  institution,  it  will  be  necessary  to  describe  them  severally. 
The  extended  space  given  to  the  first  is  due  to  the  fact  that  complete  records  were 
available  as  was  not  elsewhere  the  case,  except  at  Maryville.  Furthermore,  at  Kirks- 
ville  the  situation  appeared,  even  on  the  first  cursory  examination,  to  be  at  the  same 
time  so  remarkable  and  so  typical  of  a  certain  order  of  procedure,  that  further  study 
and  a  full  description  seemed  advisable. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  CREDIT  AT  KIRKSVILLE 

It  should  be  recalled  that  shortly  after  the  beginning  of  the  school's  expansion  about 
1900,  entrance  examinations  were  abolished,  and  there  was  introduced  the  "proving- 
up"  policy  without  reference  to  the  credentials  presented.1  At  the  same  time  a  move- 
ment was  begun  to  raise  the  standard  of  the  institution.  Instead  of  accomplishing  this 
by  fully  matured  and  well-organized  changes  kept  stable  for  a  period  and  required  of 
new  students,  or  of  all  students  after  a  certain  date,  partial  changes  in  requirement  were 
announced  each  year.  Of  the  fifteen  years,  1900-14,  only  three  are  without  substantial 

1  See  page  310. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CREDIT  329 

alteration  in  the  requirements  for  graduation.  For  a  guide  thru  this  maze  of  shifting 
demands  the  bewildered  student,  coming  up  to  the  normal  school  usually  in  alternate 
years,  or  even  less  often,  was  of  necessity  thrown  back  upon  the  graduating  officer,  in 
this  case  the  head  of  the  institution,  who  alone  could  say  how  much  was  still  required 
to  ensure  a  diploma.  Thus  each  and  every  curriculum  became,  as  to  length,  a  personal 
arrangement  between  the  student  and  this  officer,  and  the  demands  were  likely  to 
change  from  year  to  year  unless  a  written  agreement  were  entered  into.  It  is  signifi- 
cant that  descriptions,  found  at  the  school,  of  this  standard-raising  process,  class  by 
class,  refer  to  the  average  number  of  hours  presented  by  the  graduates ;  that  is,  few, 
if  any,  two  curricula  were  identical  in  amount;  a  maximum  scale  of  requirements  ap- 
peared in  the  catalogue,  but  the  actual  performance  of  a  given  student  might  be  any- 
where within  a  considerable  range  below. 

THE  THEORY 

The  theory  corresponding  to  this  practice  is  clearly  enunciated :  the  normal  school 
proposes  to  "treat  each  student  on  his  merits"  irrespective  of  any  formal  or  "mech- 
anized" requirements  whatever.  The  statements  of  policy  in  the  catalogue  of  1906  l  are 
typical  of  the  entire  period:  "  We  have  found  it  necessary  to  admit  and  classify  each 
student  chiefly  upon  his  individual  merits."  "We  purpose  recognizing  "not  only  the 
merits  of  each  secondary  school,  whether  approved  or  unapproved  by  pseudo-inspec- 
tion, but  also  the  merits  of  each  individual  student  as  our  teachers  get  acquainted 
with  them.53  "  This  school  will  not  attempt  to  announce  in  advance  the  exact  time 
in  which  any  student  may  receive  a  diploma."  A  genuine  merit  system  of  handling 
students  has  been  the  ideal  of  every  sincere  educational  institution,  and  efforts  to 
achieve  it  have  resulted  in  various  devices  for  obviating  the  partisan  or  too  sympa- 
thetic judgment,  for  securing  objective  standards,  impersonal  requirements,  and,  above 
all,  for  dissociating  recognition  of  student  effort  and  merit  from  any  consideration 
of  the  interests  of  the  institution.  Kirksville  has  sought  a  solution  by  precisely  the 
opposite  method:  by  concentrating  the  final  award  of  credit  in  the  hands  of  one  indi- 
vidual, and  he  the  head  of  the  institution.2  Such  a  policy  appears  on  its  face  immeas- 
surably  more  difficult  to  administer  fairly  than  a  system  which  renders  this  delicate 
matter  as  automatic  as  possible,  and  settles  the  individual  problem  in  accordance  with 
a  well-considered  principle,  rather  than  by  the  arbitrary  action  of  one  person — least 
of  all  the  person  whose  position  might  give  color  to  the  charge  that  student  credit 
was  liable  to  manipulation  for  institutional  or  personal  ends. 


1  Pages  17-19. 

2  Up  to  the  time  of  the  beginning1  of  this  study  the  records  at  Kirksville  were  inaccessible  to  any  one  save  the  presi- 
dent and  dean  of  the  school  arid  to  the  "registrar,"  who  was  essentially  a  confidential  clerk.  All  final  records  of 
graduates  were  made  out  in  the  handwriting  of  the  president. 


830  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

THE  PKACTICE 

The  success  of  the  Erksville  plan  must  be  judged  by  its  results.  Snch  as  are  here 
given  are  the  outcome  of  a  careful  examination  of  a  considerable  number  of  records 
verified  in  most  cases  by  the  students  themselves.  They  aim  to  show  neither  the  aver- 
age treatment  of  rank  and  file  nor  the  wholly  exceptional  cases ;  they  are  believed  to 
represent  the  deliberate  policy  of  the  school  as  favorable  occasion  may  arise. 

A  true,  complete,  and  intelligible  record  is,  of  course,  essential  to  the  successful 
administration  of  credit.  The  institution  at  Kirksville  has  given  excellent  attention 
to  such  records  as  it  possesses;  they  are  well  housed  and  cared  for,  and  have  evidently 
been  kept  up  with  some  pride.  Credentials  for  admission  or  advanced  standing,  whether 
originals  or  copies,  do  not  exist.1  The  student's  permanent  record  presents  an  inscru- 
table collection  of  term  grades,  with  nothing  to  disclose  when  any  given  grade  was 
earned  or  who  was  responsible  for  its  award;  this  may  be  learned  only  by  going  back 
thru  the  entire  series  of  term  lists  during  the  period  of  the  student's  attendance.  Many 
grades  are  not  regularly  reported  in  these  lists,  and  are  therefore  lost  for  the  enquirer ; 
possible  examination  marks,  made  up  conditions,  and  irregular  credits  of  every  sort  are 
in  general  quite  untraceable  to  their  only  legitimate  sponsor — the  teacher.  Thus  altho 
the  educational  accounts  of  each  student  balance  perfectly,  the  different  entries,  indis- 
tinguishable on  the  record,  are  extremely  diverse  in  their  real  nature.  Some  of  the 
details  are  extraordinary. 

CREDIT  FOR  ADMISSION 

In  pursuance  of  the  schooFs  avowed  policy  credit  is  accepted  from  every  source  with- 
out important  discrimination.  This  and  the  fact  that  no  credentials  whatever  are  pre- 
served make  it  possible  to  fill  up  the  gaps  that  arise  with  credit  references  of  little 
significance.  "Rural  high  school  *  plays  a  prominent  part:  this  may  apparently  mean 
anything  from  a  book  loaned  by  the  rural  school  teacher  to  work  of  merit  done  under 
good  conditions.  It  is  always  uninspected  and  unapproved  work  so  far  as  any  official 
body  is  concerned.  Such  credit  may  sometimes  be  tested  at  the  school;  instances  of 
examination  were  found.  It  may  be  taken  again  in  part  at  the  school ;  in  this  case  a 
single  term  of  grammar,  or  arithmetic,  or  algebra,  or  history,  tho  barely  passed, 
carries  with  it  credit  for  the  whole  subject.  This  credit  is  inserted  frequently  in  the 
form  of  grade  letters,  as  tho  the  work  of  all  terms  had  been  regularly  taken,  thus  mak- 
ing it  impossible  to  judge  the  source  of  the  credit  except  after  tracing  it  back.  Or  the 
credit  may  simply  be  granted  outright  without  more  ado,  usually  on  the  plea  that  the 
student  has  "proved  up"  in  other  subjects.  If  necessary,  both  outside  credit  and  resi- 
dent work  covering  the  same  ground  are  counted  in  making  up  the  required  amount. 

x  A  single  lineat  the  head  of  the  main  record  sheet  provides  space  for  answers,  as  follows :  "Graduateof, "  "Attended 
. . .  yrs ."  The  permanent  record  card  consists  of  a  triple  columnof  subjects  distinguished  as  of  "High  School  Rank" 
and  of  "College  Rank.'*  After  each  subject  is  space  for  "Ghrades"and  *'  No.  units,  "or  **  Hours  Credit.  "An  exponent 
by  the  "  grade"  shows  the  term  sequence,  and  a  marginal  space  records  when  the  student  enrolled  in  the  school  and 
how  long  he  attended. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CREDIT  331 

SECONDARY  CREDIT 

Secondary  work  at  the  school  is  further  abbreviated  by  allowing  one  unit's  credit 
for  two  instead  of  three  terms  work,  even  when  the  grades  are  low.  Thus  a  "good" 
and  "passed"  grade  together  repeatedly  give  one  unit  in  grammar,  history,  and  physi- 
cal geography,  even  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and  regularly  in  algebra  two  units  are  allowed 
for  the  work  of  four  terms  or  one  and  one-third  years.  What  can  be  characterized 
only  as  a  habit  appears  almost  invariably  with  credit  awarded  in  English,  The  phrase 
is:  "Other  High  School  English,  one  unit,"  and  it  stands  for  nothing  tangible  that 
could  be  discovered.  It  was  said  sometimes  to  mean  membership  in  literary  societies, 
and  credit  for  such  work  was,  in  fact,  announced  in  the  catalogue  of  1907.  Accord- 
ing to  the  many  teachers  and  students  interrogated,  however,  the  work  done  under 
this  head  has  never  been  subjected  to  control  or  accounting.  Where  such  reference 
could  not  apply,  as  in  the  case  of  those  doing  their  secondary  work  elsewhere,  the 
credit  was  unexplained.  Another  "Tiabit"  appears  in  the  reckoning  of  secondary  cred- 
its in  mathematics.  "We  assume,"  it  was  stated,  "that  any  one  who  completes  solid 
geometry  must  have  four  units  of  credit  in  mathematics."''  On  this  comfortable  as- 
sumption deficits  in  arithmetic  or  algebra  are  generously  overlooked.  Seven  term 
grades  (two  and  one-third  years),  consisting  of  four  grades  of  "passed '"and  three  of 
"good,"  actually  count  thus  for  four  complete  units.  A  convenient  and  economical 
practice  with  "older  students"  (from  seventeen  years  on)  is  to  enroll  them  at  once 
in  college  subjects,  and  on  the  "passing"  of  these  to  infer  what  they  probably  would 
have  done  had  they  taken  the  related  secondary  subject;  the  credit  so  arrived  at  is 
then  recorded.  By  this  method  a  student  taking  a  curriculum  in  history  is  required 
to  cover  the  ground  but  once  for  all  secondary  (four  units  in  one  case)  and  college 
credit.  Similarly  a  course  in  zoology  may  net  a  student  collateral  credit  in  "physi- 
ology and  sanitation  "  required  in  the  secondary  course.  A  condition*  or  for  that  mat- 
ter a  failure,  in  the  work  of  one  term  may  apparently  be  made  good  by  any  passing 
grade  in  a  subsequent  and  more  advanced  terni^s  work.  So  three  terms  of  arithmetic 
may  read  "failure,"  "passed,"  "good,"  and  all  be  accepted  for  one  unit.  More  often 
the  failure  is  not  counted  for  credit,  but  does  not  require  repetition  before  promo- 
tion, the  express  catalogued  regulation  of  the  school  to  the  contrary  notwithstand- 
ing. In  this  way  a  third  term  of  English  literature  may  follow  a  second  term  failure 
after  a  first  term  graded  "passed."  Complete  failure  may  still  be  made  good  on  the 
word  of  a  teacher's  superintendent,  as  when  four  terms  of  arithmetic,  two  of  which 
are  failures  and  two  "conditioned,"  are  validated  for  one  unit  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  a  superintendent  in  a  town  where  the  student  obtained  a  position. 

Part  of  the  situation  shown  above  is  clearly  due  to  the  nature  of  the  subject-matter 
recognized  in  such  courses  as  arithmetic,  grammar,  elementary  United  States  history, 
and  civics.  These  are  not  professionally  organized  studies  that  could  profitably  be 
required  of  every  student  in  full;  as  explained  elsewhere,1  they  are  essentially  eighth 

1  See  pages  309,  310. 


832  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

grade  work  somewhat  intensified,  and  any  young  student  who  has  done  well  in  that 
grade  and  has  taught  a  term  or  two  can  take  them  as  it  were  by  samples,  if  not  by  per- 
suasion.1 Such  work  should  not  be  recognized  for  secondary  credits;  a  good  high  school 
requires  of  its  students  new  work,  and  normal  school  courses  should  do  as  much,  even 
tho  the  basis  of  the  subject  be  familiar. 

COLLEGIATE  CREDIT 

The  absence  of  dates  with  the  records  of  grades  earned  obscures  the  fact  that  much 
of  the  work  for  which  collegiate  credit  is  claimed  mus%have  been  very  elementary. 
One  of  the  recipients  of  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  1914  entered  the  school  from  the  eighth 
grade  as  a  child  of  thirteen,  and  in  the  following  year  (1904),  when  fourteen  years 
old  and  still  under  the  required  age2  for  admission  even  to  the  secondary  depart- 
ment, began  to  earn  "  college"''  credit,  continuing  to  do  so  each  term  for  the  remain- 
der of  her  course.  Another  from  the  same  class  entered  at  the  same  age,  and  during 
her  first  year  was  given  "college""  credit  for  a  course  in  zoology.  For  eighteen  of  the 
thirty  terms  of  this  student's  attendance,  she  earned  "college"  credit  and  secondary 
credit  side  by  side.  Not  all  records  are  so  striking,  but  the  average  overlapping  of 
secondary  and  collegiate  work  in  the  cases  of  the  fifteen  members  of  this  class  who 
did  resident  secondary  work  at  all  was  eight  terms,  or  two  and  two-thirds  years;  the 
least  was  one  and  two-thirds  years.  A  better  evidence  of  what  the  quality  of  these 
"college""  courses  must  have  been  could  hardly  be  forthcoming,  whatever  the  exi- 
gencies of  transition  that  may  explain  them. 

All  work  in  German  and  all  work  in  Latin  above  the  second  year  is  rated  as  col- 
legiate at  Kirksville  on  the  ground  that  similar  beginning  courses  are  found  in  good 
colleges,  but  regardless  of  the  fact  that  such  colleges  require  secondary  substitutes 
that  cannot  be  slighted.  For  students  who  slur  over  their  secondary  work  this  dignifies 
with  collegiate  labels  three  years  of  German  and  two  years  of  Latin,  which  are  in 
their  cases  essentially  secondary  studies,  and  enables  the  institution  to  that  extent  to 
magnify  its  "  collegiate "  department,  while  secondary  courses  correspondingly  disap- 
pear— a  much  desired  result.3  Considering  this  view  of  secondary  work  and  the  mix- 
ture of  it  with  collegiate  courses  already  referred  to,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  early 
secondary  courses  drawn  upon  for  college  credit  when  needed.  Thus  elementary  draw- 
ing and  Roman  history  in  a  student's  first  year  of  attendance  may  be  transferred  and 
figure  as  "five  semester  hours,"  An  unneeded  credit  in  secondary  arithmetic  may 
appear  as  a  college  grade  in  the  "teaching  of  arithmetic  and  algebra."  A  subject  may 
be  repeated  and  credit  given  both  for  the  original  work  and  the  repetition. 

1  The  key  to  the  situation  is  well  revealed  in  the  remark  of  a  graduate  on  one  of  the  verification  blanks :  "My  age, 
some  experience,  personality,  and  ability  to  talk  kept  me  from  having  to  do  much  of  the  so-called  high  school  work 
at  Kirksville." 

2  Catalogue,  June,  1903,  page  25. 

3  This  result  appears  likewise  in  the  practice  whereby  "college"  work  is  allowed  to  count  in  making  up  the  second- 
ary units ;  an  institution  may  be  nothing  but  a  "college"  in  this  way  and  yet  have  no  difficulty  in  providing  for  its 
secondary  students. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CREDIT  333 

Informal  credit  without  class  attendance  is  frequent,,  especially  in  new  departments 
such  as  agriculture,  A  farm  boy  receives  one  unit  of  elementary  "agriculture"1''  as  rec- 
ognition of  his  home  experience;  credit  in  "farm  management,11  "farm  supervision," 
and  "  farm  architecture,"  to  the  extent  of  twelve  and  a  half  semester  hours,  for  work 
on  the  local  school  farm;  further,  "bacteriology,"  "horticulture,"  "feeds  and  feed- 
ing," and  "principles  of  breeding,"  to  the  amount  of  twelve  and  a  half  hours,  for  work 
done  privately  with  an  instructor;  and  finally,  a  grade  of  "good,"  identified  rather  sig- 
nificantly as  "Play  in  Education,"  for  coaching  football  and  baseball.  Five  additional 
hours  of  college  work  were  granted  in  this  case  for  the  "teaching  of  science "  and  for 
"agronomy,"  without  discoverable  equivalent. 

The  most  prolific  source  of  college  credit  is  practice  teaching.  As  the  dispenser  of 
credit  is  also  the  titular  superintendent  of  the  practice  school,  credit  for  this  subject 
may  be  assigned  by  him  without  going  thru  the  books  of  the  director  of  the  practice 
department.  This  credit  is  apparently  of  three  kinds :  first,  bonafide  practice  credit 
for  work  done  in  the  training  school  and  regularly  reported;  second,  credit  allowed 
for  all  sorts  of  teaching  "experience"  outside,  little  of  which  is  done  under  compe- 
tent supervision,  nor  is  an  accurate  estimate  or  report  of  it  available,  "Experience" 
has  been  expresssly  allowed  some  credit  both  at  the  university  and  at  the  other  normal 
schools,  but  the  Kirksville  practice  differs  in  that  its  credit  for  experience  is  regu- 
larly recorded  in  definite  class  grades  for  fictitious  subjects  indistinguishable  from 
other  local  work  and  that  it  is  excessive  in  amount.  "On  account  of  her  good  record 
as  a  teacher  in  the  state,"  one  student  proved  to  have  received  seven  and  a  half  hours' 
credit  described  in  the  record  as  "principles  of  teaching/'  "psychology,"  and  "rural 
school  methods  and  observation;"  this  in  addition  to  one  year's  credit  for  practice 
work,  two  terms  of  which  were  reported  from  the  training  school.  Another  student 
had  done  no  regular  practice  teaching,  but  received  ten  hours"5  credit  "for  substi- 
tuting at  odd  times  for  teachers  who  were  sick."  The  third  type  of  practice  credit 
is  apparently  granted  in  pay  for  chores,  educational  or  otherwise;  thus  labor  on  the 
school  farm,  in  the  laboratories,  or  service  as  desk  attendant  in  the  library  is  allowed 
credit  under  this  head  in  partial  payment,  the  remainder  coming  in  cash.  The  so-called 
"teaching-scholars"  have  regularly  been  allowed  teaching  credit  in  addition  to  their 
remuneration  even  tho  their  work  received  no  attention  that  could  be  termed  super- 
vision. When  teaching  credit  is  no  longer  considered  allowable,  credit  is  given  for 
some  definite  course;  for  example,  credit  for  a  college  course  in  "English  literature" 
is  awarded  for  teaching  a  secondary  class  in  grammar. 

Unusual  merit  is  recognized  in  a  yet  more  unusual  manner.  When  other  methods 
are  exhausted,  all  academic  requirement  is  waived  and  credit  is  presented  outright. 
The  beneficiary  of  the  two  years  of  practice-teaching  credit  referred  to  above  shows 
a  preponderance  of  excellent  grades,  tho  no  better  than  many  others.  Yet  to  com- 
plete_her  record  to  the  requisite  number,  six  and  a  quarter  hours  were  added  arbitra- 
rily, altho  carefully  distributed  among  specific  subjects.  Another  student,  with  a  record 


334  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

of  thirty-five  semester  hours  at  Kirks  ville  and  thirty  from  another  school,  was  granted 
the  one-hundred-twenty-hour  diploma  and  B.S.  degree.  Seventeen  hours  were  allowed 
in  stenography  ahd  typewriting,  possibly  for  secretarial  experience  at  the  school, 
seven  and  a  half  for  travel  in  Europe,  and  the  remaining  thirty  are  still  unexplained 
after  repeated  enquiry;  twelve  specific  courses  are  set  down  as  usual,  but  no  one  of 
them  appears  actually  to  have  been  taken  anywhere. 

The  pains  to  assemble  specific  data  for  this  type  of  credit  are  not  always  taken. 
At  least  three  degrees  of  a  blanket  character  were  granted  in  or  about  1912.  "We 
never  could  actually  get  his  grades  together  but  we  knew  the  man"  is  the  j  ustification. 
Up  to  1915  nine  teachers  at  Kirks  ville  had  received  the  bachelor's  degree  irregularly. 
Eight  of  these  were  fully  employed  by  the  school  at  the  time,  and  offered  no  residence 
work ;  one  held  some  resident  credit  but  was  awarded  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  duplicate 
after  taking  it  from  a  good  college,  and  became  in  this  vicarious  fashion  the  second 
four-year  graduate  the  school  had  acquired.  Some  of  these  degrees  were  given  outright 
as  complimentary;  others  make  great  show  of  evaluating  earned  credits:  one  of  the 
latter  includes,  as  more  than  a  fifth  of  the  total  hours,  experience  in  teaching  in  ele- 
mentary schools.  Similarly  a  renewal  of  certificate,  which  by  the  school's  rule  requires 
ten  semester  hours  of  additional  study,  may  be  had  on  enrolment  and  payment  of  the 
registration  fee  only. 

Finally,  in  case  the  school  becomes  desperate  for  means  whereby  to  graduate  a  stu- 
dent, one  last  resource  avails — a  conditional  diploma.  On  the  promise  to  return  and 
make  up  a  deficiency  of  from  one  semester  hour  to  over  half  a  year's  work,  or  else  to 
surrender  the  certificate  or  diploma,  fifteen  students  in  one  class,  twelve  in  another, 
and  two  in  another  received  the  signed  documentary  evidence  of  the  completion  of 
their  course.  The  time  limit  set  was  usually  one  year,  but  this  might  be  extended. 

TIME  REQUIRED  FOR  GRADUATION 

The  time  element  in  graduation  under  the  Kirksville  system  is  an  important  factor 
in  attracting  students  and  in  building  up  a  "degree  class."  This  process  really  began 
in  1910,  when  four  took  the  degree.1  Three  of  these  were  studied  from  the  records: 
one  presented  six  secondary  units  and  two  and  one-third  years 2  of  attendance  at  Kirks- 
ville, making  four  years  at  most  for  an  eight-year  degree;  another  did  all  his  work 
at  Kirksville,  putting  the  eight  years  into  four  and  a  half;3  and  a  third  offered  five 
units  and  five  and  one-third  years  of  attendance,  making  six  and  a  half  years  in  all 
instead  of  eight.  Of  the  six  graduated  in  1911,  the  two  who  were  studied  presented, 
one  of  them  a  year  in  a  Missouri  "high  school"  unlisted  by  the  state  department,  a 
year  in  "  private  study,"  and  four  and  two-thirds  years  of  attendance ;  the  other  gradu- 

1  Two  four-year  bachelor's  degrees  had  been  granted  before,  one  in  1907  and  the  other  in  1908. 

2  The  term  "year"  as  used  here  and  below  means  the  customary  school  year  of  nine  months  or  three  normal  school 
terms. 

8  This  record  shows  22}  semester  hours  earned  in  a  single  summer  term,  which  may  partly  explain  the  case. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CREDIT  385 

ated  from  a  then  second  class  high  school  and  attended  at  Klrksvllle  three  years.  In 
1910  the  catalogue  announced  a  "five-year  teachers'  college  course"  with  graduation 
platforms  at  each  annual  stage  and  with  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts  or  science 
crowning  the  fifth  year's  work.  The  records  of  students  receiving,  on  this  curriculum, 
the  diploma  of  an  expressly  "Four-year  Teachers"  College  Course  preceded  by  a  four- 
year  High  School  Course*"1  are  interesting.  One  high  school  graduate  receives  it  in 
three  years;  while  a  student  who  did  all  his  work  at  Kirks ville  completed  the  re- 
quirements of  eight  years  in  five.  A  degree  of  A.B.  which  in  1912  was  advertised  to 
require  five  years  above  high  school,  or  nine  years,  was  taken  by  a  student  presenting 
six  units  obtained  in  a  rural  school,  after  four  and  one-third  years,  making  a  total  of 
six  years  at  best. 

Conditions  in  1914  were  the  same,  altho  the  five-year  degree  had  disappeared  from 
the  catalogue.  A  student  was  allowed  eight  units  from  a  "high  school*"  too  weak  to  be 
listed  by  the  state  department,,  and  was  given  his  elementary  certificate,  requiring 
thirty  semester  hours,  in  two  years,  his  professional  college  work  beginning  immedi- 
ately after  his  entrance.  Another,  with  two  failures,  seventeen  "  passed *"  marks,  forty- 
seven  grades  of  "good,"  and  six  grades  of  "excellent,"  received  the  sixty-hour  diploma, 
and  was  within  seven  semester  hours  of  the  ninety-hour  diploma — a  seven-year  curric- 
ulum— in  five  and  one-third  years.  Of  the  A.B.  and  B.S.  students,  one  starting  with 
"passed"  in  grammar  and  "failed"  in  arithmetic  reached  his  goal  in  five  and  two- 
thirds  years,  a  saving  of  two  and  one-third  years.  Another  took  one  year  more  in 
spite  of  a  much  better  record,  and  yet  another,  with  practically  all  "E's,"  covered  the 
eight-year  curriculum  in  five  years  plus  two  summer  sessions  of  six  weeks  each  at  the 
university.  These  cases  were  by  no  means  exceptional.2 

The  facts  above  related  leave  one  divided  between  admiration  for  the  ingenuity  and 
good  fortune  that  could  devise  and  operate  such  a  system  for  so  long  a  time  unexposed, 
and  resentment  at  the  fraud  perpetrated  on  unwitting  students  who  trusted  the  state 
for  straightforward  treatment.  The  direct  loss  to  the  state  is  not  a  small  one.  To 
those  who  do  not  care  to  undergo  the  humiliation  of  having  their  degrees  heavily  dis- 
counted at  a  good  institution  —  an  event  of  frequent  occurrence — graduation  at 
Kirksville  is  not  only  the  end  of  a  dwarfed  curriculum,  but  an  actual  bar  to  further 
study.  Given  the  plausible  theory  of  "individual  merits,"  and  setting  up  one  personally 
interested  and  irresponsible  person  to  be  the  judge,  the  rest  follows  as  a  matter  of 
course.  We  have  here  an  excellent  illustration  of  what  a  state  institution,  into  which 
students  are  practically  forced  by  legislation,  may  arrive  at  without  provision  for  con- 
stant educational  scrutiny  and  audit.  Thanks  to  a  sound-minded  corps  of  teachers  and 

1  Catalogue*  June,  1912,  pages  29  and  173. 

3  It  was  instructive  to  come  upon  a  resum&  of  the  careers  of  these  graduates  in  1914,  compiled  by  the  school  authori- 
ties and  published  in  the  catalogue  for  1915;  likewise  a  similar  analysis,  for  later  graduates,  in  the  report  of  the 
state  superintendent  for  the  same  year.  The  columns  there  indicating  the  time  spent  in  secondary  and  collegiate 
work  seem  to  be  replete  with  errors,  unless  the  method  of  calculation  be  understood.  This  is  simply  to  take  the  total 
amount  of  college  and  secondary  credit  assigned  as  here  described,  and  divide  it  by  a  standard  year's  program, 
thirty  hours  or  four  units.  The  "time"  there  given  bears  no  relation  to  time  actually  spent,  altho  the  impression  Is 
conveyed  that  it  does. 


336  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

a  keen  student  body,  a  material  change  was  brought  about  just  as  this  study  began. 
By  their  joint  action  at  a  favorable  moment,  the  administration  of  credit  for  gradu- 
ation was  transferred  to  a  committee  of  the  teachers,  where  it  has  since  been  confirmed 
by  action  of  the  regents. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  CREDIT  AT  WARREN SBURG 

The  examination  and  transcription  of  records  at  Warrensburg  was  halted  by  the 
fire  which  destroyed  the  school  buildings  on  March  6,  1915.  All  the  records  of  the 
school  together  with  the  two  weeks'  work  done  by  members  of  the  enquiry  staff  were 
lost.  The  general  impressions  gained  thru  this  period,  however,  have  been  supple- 
mented by  study  of  such  sample  student  careers  as  could  be  restored  from  records 
held  by  the  students  themselves. 

The  record  system  in  use  at  Warrensburg  was  a  clumsy  bequest  from  a  much  ear- 
lier period  and  merited  destruction.  The  entries  were  undated  and  hence  impossible 
to  trace  except  by  reference  to  teachers1  class  lists.  Each  student's  account  appeared 
to  be  carefully  balanced,  and,  so  far  as  was  discovered,  the  items  meant  what  they  said. 
The  records  at  Warrensburg  are  in  charge  of  an  official  and  independent  registrar, 
who  follows  a  regular  routine,  as  is  the  practice  in  good  higher  institutions.  In  accord- 
ance with  rules  agreed  upon  by  the  president  and  the  faculty,  credentials  for  admis- 
sion, advanced  standing,  and  graduation  are  administered  in  behalf  of  a  faculty  com- 
mittee by  the  dean  of  the  faculty,  who  is  also  the  head  of  the  department  of  education. 

The  main  ground  for  confidence  in  the  general  procedure  at  Warrensburg  was  the 
impression  derived  from  the  examination  of  the  admission  credentials  of  about  one- 
fourth  of  the  enrolment  of  1913-14  taken  alphabetically  and  interrupted  at  this 
point  by  the  disaster  already  referred  to.  As  is  customary  at  the  other  schools,  War- 
rensburg admits  and  classifies  students  without  having  their  credentials  in  hand.1 
When  they  become  candidates  for  certificates  and  diplomas,  however,  official  creden- 
tials are  required,  and  are  invariably  retained  and  filed  at  the  school.  So  far  as  the 
examination  went  (about  five  hundred  cases),  th&  credentials  bore  out  the  credit  allow- 
ances in  every  particular.  Credits  from  unapproved  high  schools  were  in  general  fairly 
discounted,  and  even  approved  schools  were  likewise  occasionally  penalized.  The  value 
of  some  credentials  from  colleges  and  schools  in  other  states  was  difficult  to  estimate; 
but  the  effort  to  do  the  student  substantial  justice  and  at  the  same  time  to  protect 
the  school  was  evident.  The  worth  of  the  credential  once  determined,  the  allowance 
was  duly  stated  and  entered  on  the  permanent  record;  it  apparently  was  not  open 
to  reinterpretation.  In  view  of  Warrensburg^s  experience,  it  is  plain  that  Missouri 
schools  of  all  sorts  can  be  induced  to  certify  their  students  if  the  matter  is  patiently 
and  persistently  followed  up. 

1  It  was  possible  at  Warrensburg  to  compare  the  credentials  finally  submitted  from  the  schools  with  the  student's 
own  claims  on  his  advance  information  sheet.  In  very  numerous  instances  the  latter  were  in  excess  of  the  other, 
tho  occasionally  the  reverse  was  true.  The  desirability  of  having:  these  credentials  in  hand  from  the  outset  seems 
obvious. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CREDIT  337 

A  dozen  Warrensburg  graduates  of  1915  were  found  who  could  restore  their  rec- 
ords by  means  of  their  own  grade  cards.  Seven  received  the  sixty -hour  diploma.  Of 
these,  five  were  graduates  of  first  class  high  schools ;  one  spent  two  years  in  such  a 
school,  and  one  spent  a  year  in  the  Warrensburg  training  school.  The  years  required 
to  secure  this  six-year  diploma  were  as  follows:  6?  6f,  6,  5§,  6J>  5,  and  7f .  Excessive 
programs  were  permitted  the  five-year  graduate ;  as  many  as  eighteen  credit-hours 
in  one  summer  term,  instead  of  ten.  An  extra  year  of  high,  school  work  (first  class) 
was  credited  to  another  as  two  terms  of  college  work.  Teaching  experience  was  ex- 
pressly allowed  two  and  one-half  hours  in  each  of  four  cases.  Three  of  the  twelve  took 
the  ninety-hour  or  seven-year  diploma.  One  of  these  was  allowed  seven  units  for  two 
years  in  a  third  class  high  school  (1906),  and  graduated  in  just  five  years  more  with. 
ninety-five  semester  hours;  another  received  nine  and  two-thirds  units  for  three  years 
in  a  second  class  high  school  (1905),  and  took  four  and  one-third  years  more  to  grad- 
uate; the  third  had  two  years  in  the  normal  training  school,  and  spent  seven  years 
longer  in  attendance.  The  remaining  two  students  were  graduates  of  a  first  class  high 
school ;  one  attended  four  and  two-thirds  years  in  addition  for  a  special  diploma  in 
household  arts  (one  hundred  fourteen  and  one-half  semester  hours) ;  the  other  took  the 
degree  of  B.S.  after  five  years  of  work  subsequent  to  the  high  school.  The  latter  stu- 
dent had  one  hundred  sixty- six  and  one-quarter  semester  hours  to  her  credit  for  the 
one  hundred  twenty  needed;  it  should  be  said,  however,  that  in  four  terms  she  was 
allowed  to  take  fifteen  hours  of  credit  per  term  instead  of  the  Warrensburg  standard 
of  ten  hours,  and  twenty  hours  in  each,  of  two  terms,  all  of  this  forced  credit  being 
allowed  as  "college""  work.1 

All  credits  appearing  as  such  in  the  above  records  were  bonajide  class  credits  as 
verified  by  the  students.  Secondary  work,  such  as  algebra  and  ancient  history,  is  given 
credit  only  for  the  time  actually  spent  in  case  the  usual  time  is  shortened.  Some  am- 
biguity was  found  in  distinguishing  between  secondary  and  college  credit;  in  such 
a  subject  as  agriculture,  part  of  the  class  take  it  as  "secondary"  and  certain  others  by 
virtue  of  outside  assignments  have  it  reckoned  as  "college"  work.  No  diplomas  have 
ever  been  granted  without  formal  attendance  and  class  work. 

The  impression  left  by  conditions  at  Warrensburg  was  that  of  a  thoroughly  sincere 
and  forceful  organization  anxious  to  maintain  sound  principles,  but  hampered  by  a 
lack  of  clearly  defined  standards. 

ADMINISTRATION'  OF  CREDIT  AT  CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

At  Cape  Girardeau  the  office  arrangements  for  handling  student  records  were  much 
the  best  of  any  that  were  met  with  at  the  normal  schools.  The  main  record  sheet  was 
nearly  a  model  of  what  a  school  should  aim  to  preserve  for  each  of  its  students,  and 
the  other  blanks  in  use  indicated  that  the  problem  of  student  administration  had  been 
carefully  studied.  So  far  as  the  usual  routine  reports  of  credit  were  concerned,  the 

1  This  would  involve  a  schedule  of  thirty  and  forty  periods  of  recitation  weekly. 


888  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

system  had  obviously  been  kept  up  with  perfect  fidelity  under  the  supervision  of  an  effi- 
cient registrar.  It  was  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  that  the  importance  of  an  educa- 
tional balance-sheet  for  each  student  had  been  -quite  overlooked.  The  settling  of  ac- 
counts for  graduation  had  been  entrusted  to  a  committee  that  acted  chiefly  thru  its 
chairman.  It  was  the  latter's  custom  each  year  to  work  out  the  account  for  each  grad- 
uate on  a  special  slip,  which  was  destroyed  after  his  graduation.  The  school  has  there- 
fore no  statement  showing  the  exact  terms  on  which  its  graduates  have  received  its 
diplomas  or  certificates ;  many  records  are  several,  and  some  very  many,  hours  in  arrears 
of  the  stipulated  requirements  for  the  diplomas  granted.  Admission  credentials  like- 
wise have  had  no  systematic  attention.  Cases  where  credit  for  admission  must  have 
been  offered  showed  no  record  of  the  fact,  and  in  many  cases  even  of  the  most  recent 
graduates  the  admission  credentials  were  missing.  Under  such  circumstances  any  com- 
plete auditing  of  the  books  was,  of  course,  impossible.  As  far  as  they  go,  the  records 
are  fully  and  frankly  explanatory.  Grades  not  earned  by  class  work  are  clearly  referred 
to  their  proper  source:  examination,  correspondence,  extension,  or  experience.1 

Peculiarities  of  credit  handling  at  Cape  Girardeau  are  as  follows:  Full  credit  is 
allowed  for  elementary  subjects  "proved  up"  by  a  term's  work  at  the  normal  school. 
Fifty  per  cent  extra  is  allowed  on  all  secondary  credit  in  mathematics  except  arith- 
metic. Collegiate  credit  is  granted  in  foreign  languages  on  the  score  of  native  ability 
in  conversation.  Credit  is  allowed  from  the  local  training  school  to  the  extent  of  nine 
and  two-thirds  units  for  two  years  of  work.  This  with  the  speed  permitted  in  the  nor- 
mal school  comes  perilously  near  being  a  three-year  high  school  curriculum.  Advanced 
standing  with  full  credit  is  allowed  without  examination  for  work  done  at  short-term, 
unapproved  high  schools  even  where  the  subjects  are  not  "proved  up"  at  the  normal 
school.  Credit  is  granted  for  experience  in  teaching  to  the  extent  of  eight  semester 
hours.  Experience  has  also  been  used  to  justify  the  enrolment  directly  in  college  work 
of  a  student  with  but  nine  units  of  secondary  credit,  and  on  his  securing  good  marks> 
the  granting  to  him  of  sufficient  units  in  elementary  subjects  which  he  had  taught  to 
make  up  his  deficiency.  High  school  credits  in  excess  of  those  required  for  admission 
to  college  courses  have  been  allowed  two-thirds  of  their  value  in  college  credit.2  Why 
tibis  was  done  for  the  professional  diploma  and  not  for  the  degree  of  A.B.?  as  is  stated, 
is  not  clear.  The  overlapping  of  secondary  and  college  work  amounts  on  the  average  to 
about  three  terms  or  one  year,  which  as  a  maximum  is  reasonable  and  conforms  to  the 
school's  rule  in  the  matter.  Degrees  have  been  granted  to  four  persons  while  active 
members  of  the  faculty.3  No  conditional  certificate  or  diploma  has  ever  been  issued. 

The  chief  weakness  in  the  credit  policy  at  Cape  Girardeau  stands  out  clearly  in  the 
records  themselves  and  has  already  been  discussed.4  The  normal  credit  allowance  for 

1  The  date  and  name  of  the  instructor  authorizing  the  irregular  credit  would  be  a  desirable  addition. 

2  This  practice  is  now  discontinued. 

3  One  of  these  did  all  of  his  work  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  another  did  all  of  his  advanced  work  at  the 
Universities  of  Chicago  and  Missouri. 

*  See  pages  318-320. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CREDIT  339 

a  year's  work  is  planned  at  four  high  school  units  or  thirty  semester  hours;1  yet  this 
is  exceeded  in  nearly  half  the  cases.2  The  graduating  schedule  adopted  early  in  1914 
reduced  the  requirements  for  the  advanced  diploma  from  seventy-six  to  sixty  se- 
mester hours,  or  two  full  years  of  college  work,  in  addition  to  a  four-year  high  school 
course.  Yet  of  the  fifty- two  graduates  in  1914  whose  records  were  examined,  twenty- 
three  showed  from  one  to  five  terms  less  than  six  years  of  schooling.  These  curtail- 
ments were  not  made  by  outside  study  daring  vacations  or  otherwise  and  followed 
by  examinations.  They  were  the  result  in  most  cases  of  excessive  programs  permitted 
the  student  by  an  indulgent  school;  five  and  six  studies  appear  frequently  on  the  sec- 
ondary programs,  and  the  credited  hours,  normally  fifteen  per  week,  run  from  sixteen 
to-  twenty-four,  often  with  the  help  of  the  fifteen  and  thirty  per  cent  bonus  peculiar 
to  Cape  Girardeau.  The  same  thing  substantially  was  true  of  the  eight-year  graduates. 
Up  to  1914  thirty-six  had  taken  degrees.  Of  the  twenty-three  records  examined, 
ten  had  a  clear  score  of  full  attendance,  tho  several,  as  already  explained,  were  appar- 
ently deficient  in  hours;  five  or  six  appeared  to  have  had  credit  from  elsewhere  of 
which  there  was  no  account,  and  the  rest  were  lacking  in  attendance  and  hours  for 
no  reason  that  could  be  learned.  The  following  case  from  the  class  of  1913  illustrates 
the  possibilities.  The  student  went  nowhere  else  after  leaving  the  elementary  school, 
but  received  credit,  partly  with  and  partly  without  examination,  for  study  at  home. 
The  normal  school  at  Cape  Girardeau  was  attended  for  three  years  of  nine  months 
each  previous  to  1906,  and  granted  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Pedagogy.  In  1912  the 
student  returned  for  three  terms,  nine  months  in  all,  and  earned  during  this  time 
more  than  fifty  semester  hours"  credit,  taking  the  degree  of  A.B.  after  but  three  years, 
at  most,  of  collegiate  work. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  CREDIT  AT  SPRINGFIELD 

The  school  records  at  Springfield  may  be  termed  a  "system"  only  by  courtesy.  No 
connection  has  been  perceived  between  a  lucid,  complete,  and  accurate  statement  of 
a  student's  work  and  the  "human  element  in  instruction "  on  which  the  school  has 
properly  laid  great  stress.  The  permanent  record  is  entered  on  a  small  card  unsuited 
to  the  needs  of  the  school  and  which,  when  filled  out,  is  obscure  as  to  dates,  charac- 
ter, and  amount  of  credit.  Admission  credit  is  provided  for  on  the  back,  but  in  such 
form  that  each  entry  requires  further  explanation  to  be  intelligible,  and  such  expla- 
nation is  nowhere  available.  Such  as  they  are,  the  entries  are  only  partially  kept  up; 
"remarks"  do  not  enlighten.  This  card,  the  only  card  for  the  purpose,  carries  no  bal- 
ance-sheet of  a  student's  work  on  which  certificates  or  diplomas  may  be  authorized, 
and  contains  no  record  of  such  issues.  As  at  Cape  Girardeau,  the  case  of  each  candi- 

1  The  bachelor's  degree  purporting  to  be  equivalent  to  those  given  elsewhere  for  a  four-year  college  course  requires 
the  regulation  one  hundred  and  twenty  semester  hours  of  college  work. 

2  The  fact  that  more  do  not  exceed  the  standard  does  not  appear  to  be  the  result  of  action  by  the  school.  Cape 
Girardeau  has  a  very  large  number  of  students  who  are  willing  to  take  only  a  partial  program.  (See  page  319.)  Irregu- 
larity either  way  seems  to  be  a  matter  of  student  fancy. 


340  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

date  for  graduation  is  worked  out  on  a  separate  slip  and  attached  to  the  record;  after 
graduation  these  are  destroyed !  Classification  and  program  cards,  the  only  complete 
record  the  school  possesses  of  a  given  term's  enrolment,  are  destroyed  when  the  few 
drawers  containing  them  are  filled.  Term  grades  are  transferred  to  huge  sheets,  from 
which  reports  are  taken;  the  sheets  are  then  relegated  in  confusion  to  a  high  closet 
shelf  and  given  no  further  attention.  Credentials  for  advanced  standing  exist  to  some 
extent.  One  hundred  and  fifty  graduates  in  1914  were  credited  with  advanced  stand- 
ing; for  eighty-one  of  these,  credentials  were  found.  In  general  the  records  were  not 
maintained  with  care  or  in  good  order,  and  they  were  inadequately  housed. 

The  theory  on  which  credit  is  assigned  at  Springfield  is  not  unlike  that  prevailing 
at  Kirksville,  tho  the  applications  have  been  far  less  extravagant  and  have  shown 
steady  improvement.1  It  is  conceived  to  be  the  school's  duty  to  recognize  the  worth 
of  the  individual  apart  from  the  display  of  that  worth  in  work  which  the  school  guides 
and  controls,  hence  the  "  experienced  "  teacher  as  "known  "  to  school  authorities  has 
been  allowed  special  advantages.  In  the  early  life  of  the  school,  graduates  were  accu- 
mulated in  some  numbers  on  this  basis,  apparently  in  order  that  the  school  might 
have  friends,  and  even  at  present  it  seems  to  be  considered  too  "  rigid  and  mechanical " 
to  exact  a  precisely  supervised  equivalent  for  each  credit. 

To  serve  the  individual  student  has  been  Springfield's  special  motto  from  the  out- 
set, owing  to  her  location  in  a  mountain  region  where  until  recently  schools  were 
poorly  developed.  With  this  intent  admission  has  been  made  as  easy  as  possible.  Work 
done  at  low  grade,  short-term  high  schools  has  been  allowed  full  credit  without  ex- 
amination, and  in  several  cases  considerable  credit  appears  to  have  been  given  for 
common  branches  clearly  of  an  elementary  nature.  "Proving  up"  is  theoretically  the 
method,  but  it  has  frequently  amounted  to  classification  in  the  most  advanced  sub- 
ject in  which  the  student  could  succeed,  and  a  bold  assumption  of  what  might  have 
gone  before.  For  example,  a  student  who  had  spent  three  years  at  a  seven-month,  un- 
classified high  school  comes  into  possession  of  his  six-year  diploma  after  one  and  two- 
thirds  years'  attendance  at  the  normal  school.  Another,  from  a  school  approved  long 
afterward  for  but  four  units,  is  graduated  in  just  three  years.  Entrance  examinations 
are  not  favored. 

Once  in,  several  things  facilitate  unusual  progress.  Springfield  has  demanded  but 
forty  secondary  term  credits,2  thus  neutralizing  her  recommendation  that  students 
attend  the  local  high  school  by  placing  a  penalty  of  eight  term  credits  on  such  attend- 
ance. An  extra  credit  slips  in  for  high  standing,  one  for  debating,  and  one  for  mem- 
bership in  literary  societies  (said  to  be  carefully  supervised).  The  sympathetic  attitude 
of  teachers  and  authorities  finds  it  hard  to  resist  appeals  for  speed  at  a  sacrifice  of 
every  possibility  of  good  work.  One  graduate  in  191 S,  who  reports  having  done  all  of 

1  As  at  Kirksville,  too,  the  administration  of  credit  has  been  concentrated  completely  in  the  hands  of  the  head 
of  the  institution.  There  is  no  registrar,  and  teachers  assigned  to  different  classes  of  graduates  have  no  power  to 
make  decisions. 
*  The  "term  credit"  is  one-third  of  a  secondary  unit. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CREDIT  841 

his  work  at  Springfield,  received  his  six-year  diploma  in  three  and  two- thirds  years  with 
many  seventies  and  eighties  in  his  record.  One  term  gave  Mm  credit  in  ten  subjects. 
The  actual  programs  of  recent  years  are  more  carefully  watched,  but  work  done  under 
the  old  conditions  is  counted  in  full  for  current  diplomas.  One  is  impressed  here  as 
in  other  schools  with  the  indestructibility  of  "  grades ;"  as  Cape  G-irardeau  somewhere 
advertises:  "No  credit  is  ever  lost;"  they  appear,  on  the  contrary,  to  bear  compound 
interest  thru  this  use  of  credits  earned  under  totally  unfit  conditions  in  making  up 
a  collegiate  curriculum  of  modern  standard.  A  single  case  of  a  conditional  certificate 
was  found. 

The  confusion  in  the  records  makes  it  impossible  in  general  to  audit  satisfactorily 
any  single  account.  Still,  some  students,  who  came  as  high  school  graduates  and  have 
attended  continuously  without  "experience1'  to  offer,  seem  to  present  a  fairly  reliable 
score.  Full  attendance  and  hours  have  been  required  of  these.  Others  with  irregular 
secondary  work  and  "experience"  to  capitalize  are  almost  invariably  short  in  account. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  four-year  degree  students,  of  whom  there  were  nine  in  1915 
but  none  in  1914.  Three  of  these  were  already  college  graduates,  and  two  had  con- 
siderable college  credit  elsewhere ;  the  records  of  the  rest  are  obscure,  tho  one  has  a 
nearly  complete  record  of  eight  years"  attendance  at  Springfield.  Five  four-year  degrees 
are  reported  as  having  been  taken  by  persons  while  members  of  the  faculty,  but  none 
wholly  without  residence  work.  The  official  description  of  one  of  these  illustrates  the 
method  pursued; 

"Professor  X  was  given  credit  for  his  high  school  work  at  ...  ,  some  of  it  on 
his  having  taught  there,  and  for  some  hours  of  study  in  the  high  school  there. 
He  did  in  our  regular  work  here  ten  semester  hours  of  credit.  He  was  credited 
[from  another  normal  school]  with  22.50  semester  hours  of  credit.  He  did  what 
we  call  Extension  work,  credit  made  by  studying  with  the  professors  in  this  school 
and  taking  examinations,  12.50  semester  hours  of  credit.  He  was  given  credit 
on  account  of  experience  and  examinations  for  state  certificate  to  the  amount 
of  75  semester  hours  of  credit.551 

A  rather  pathetic  indication  of  the  sincerity  underlying  the  situation  above  de- 
scribed was  the  concern  shown,  not  that  the  records  as  a  whole  were  meaningless,  but 
that  in  successive  cases  it  was  impossible  to  remember  what  had  been  the  justifica- 
tion for  the  diploma  or  certificate  issued.  Little  as  the  actual  practices  here  are  to  be 
defended,  records  better  on  their  face  have  concealed  worse  conditions. 

ADMINISTRATION  OP  CREDIT  AT  MAKYVIKLE 

The  school  at  Mary ville  during  its  first  half-dozen  years  passed  thru  three  admin- 
istrations of  varying  aim  and  ability,  and  is  but  just  completing  its  organization 
under  a  fourth.  One  is  therefore  agreeably  surprised  to  find  its  record  system  intelli- 

1  The  state  certificate  here  referred  to  was  secured  at  a  time  when  persons  having  only  the  equivalent  of  a  high 
school  course  secured  them  without  difficulty  hy  examination. 


OPERATION  OF  THE  NOEMAL  SCHOOLS 

gible  and  fairly  complete,  owing  perhaps  to  the  continuous  service  of  the  present  dean 
and  registrar.  A  complicated  and  inadequate  record  card  not  unlike  that  used  at 
Springfield  is  kept  serviceable  by  careful  administration.  Dates  and  certain  symbols 
provided  make  it  possible  to  piece  together  a  student's  educational  history  that  ap- 
pears accurate.  Even  here  the  accounts  are  left  unbalanced  and  occasionally  show 
deficiencies,  explanations  of  which  should  have  been  recorded  at  the  time  of  gradu- 
ation. The  great  majority  of  the  graduates  at  Maryville  have  already  graduated  from 
high  school  or  academy,  and  occasionally  from  college.  Of  these  both  attendance  and 
hours  are  invariably  sufficient.  Others,  however,  who  have  held  over  from  a  previous 
regime  at  the  normal  school,  have  been  passed  thin  on  a  considerably  shortened  pro- 
gram; eight,  ten,  or  twelve  units  instead  of  fifteen  being  accepted  for  secondary 
work,  and  the  attendance  being  correspondingly  reduced.1 

"In  all  but  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  possible  cases,  credentials  covering  outside 
credit  are  on  file,  often  in  the  original  but  usually  inform  of  a  copy — an  unsatisfac- 
tory substitute.  These  credits  from  all  manner  of  schools  are  listed  in  full  on  the  per- 
manent record,  to  be  used  if  needed,  but  are  nowhere  decisively  dealt  with;  they  would 
appear  to  be  continually  open  to  reinterpretation.  Theoretically  they  are  there  to  be 
"proved  up." 

In  administering  credit  earned  at  the  school  there  seems  to  be  some  confusion  as 
between  secondary  and  collegiate  work.  Psychology,  when  a  high  school  subject?  is  oc- 
casionally converted  into  college  hours;  at  an  earlier  date  other  high  school  subjects 
also  found  their  way  over  the  line.  One  practice  at  Maryville  should  be  noted  as 
evidence  of  a  commendable  sincerity.  To  maintain  the  standard  of  the  four-unit  year, 
all  unprepared  subjects,  such  as  music,  drawing,  spelling,  penmanship,  or  physical 
training,  tho  required,  have  been  offered  without  credit;  this,  too,  at  a  time  when  all 
the  other  schools  were  granting  credit  for  everything,  and  were  thereby  materially 
reducing  the  time  needed  to  graduate.  On  the  other  hand,  an  order  like  the  following 
displays  at  least  a  regrettable  lack  of  appreciation  of  what  credit  should  stand  for: 
"Credit  X.  Y,  with  E  [Excellent]  in  whatever  subject  she  needs  in  the  Department 
of ...  for  a  Diploma.1"  This  was  signed  by  the  head  of  the  department.  From  what  the 
enquirers  learned  of  the  school,  any  implication  from  this  but  that  of  carelessness 
would  fail  to  do  justice  to  the  present  spirit  of  the  institution. 

ESSENTIALS  OF  CREDIT  ADMINISTRATION 

After  the  foregoing  resumi  of  existing  practice  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  set  forth 
in  detail  the  characteristics  of  a  fitting  policy  of  credit  administration.  By  way  of 
summary  it  may  be  said  that  any  school,  and  particularly  any  state-supported  insti- 
tution, should  maintain  such  a  system  of  educational  records  that  an  intelligent  out- 

1  This  is  commonly  excused  on  the  ground  of  maturity.  In  fact,  however,  the  fourteen  students  who  in  1914  were  put 
thru  on  a  short  schedule  averaged  less  than  one  year  older  than  the  twenty-seven  students  from  high  schools  and 
academies  who  gave  full  attendance,  21.8 — 22.5.  Pour  others  who  studied  chiefly  at  Maryville  but  spent  full  time 
averaged  24i  years  of  age. 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  CREDIT 

sider  could  read  therefrom  an  accurate  history  of  the  work  of  each  individual  student 
without  need  for  any  further  explanation  whatever.  If  one  form  of  accounting  must 
suffer  in  such  an  institution,  let  it  be  the  financial ;  the  clear  and  honest  discharge  of 
the  educational  task  is  the  school's  sole  reason  for  existence.1 

The  definition  of  acceptable  credit  is  of  course  the  task  and  responsibility  of  each 
state  system,  or,  if  the  school  be  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  obliged  to  act  independently, 
of  each  separate  institution.  It  is  believed  that  the  following  procedure,  if  fairly 
enforced,  will  lead  to  a  sound  and  self-respecting  administration  of  credit,  and  will 
furnish  a  satisfactory  basis  for  comparison  with  other  good  institutions. 

First:  Credits  for  admission  or  advanced  standing  in  secondary  or  collegiate 
work  should  be  accepted  only  from  such  schools  and  in  such  subjects  as  are  recom- 
mended by  the  state  department  of  education.  Credit  from  other  institutions  should 
be  studied  and  finally  determined  in  each  instance  by  the  state  department  itself 
for  subsequent  use  in  any  of  the  schools  of  the  state.  All  other  credits  except  such  as 
are  earned  thru  regular  class  work  at  the  school  concerned  should  be  assigned  only 
after  a  fair  and  thorough  examination  covering  each  unit  of  work  for  which  credit  is 
proposed. 

Second:  All  resident  credit  should  be  coordinated  strictly  with  whatever  time  and 
credit  unit  may  have  been  adopted  as  a  standard.  If  four  units  per  year  or  fifteen 
hours  per  week  constitute  the  standard,  credit  in  excess  of  that  should  be  permitted 
only  on  a  basis  of  proved  excellence,  and  then  only  in  such  a  limited  number  of  cases 
as  to  keep  the  real  standard  valid. 

Third:  All  local  credit  should  involve  full-time  class  work  with  an  instructor; "  in- 
formal" credit  should  not  be  granted.  Failure  to  meet  requirements  should  necessi- 
tate either  a  second  examination  or  a  repetition  of  the  course ;  otherwise  the  succeeding 
course  should  not  be  undertaken.  Credit  should  not  be  granted  to  persons  while  in 
the  employ  of  the  school  except  to  recipients  of  scholarships  for  work  for  which  they 
are  not  paid.  Complimentary  diplomas  and  honors  or  conditional  certificates  should 
not  be  issued. 

Fourth:  Acceptable  credit  should  be  redefined  from  time  to  time  as  occasion  may 
require.  Such  definition  should  invariably  be  formulated  by  a  body  representing  the 
several  schools,  or  else  by  the  whole  body  of  faculty  rank  in  the  teaching  staff  of  the 
institution,  and  not  by  the  crediting  officer  alone.  The  administration  of  credit  should 

1  The  essential  features  of  such  a  record  are :  First:  Identification  of  all  credit  for  entrance  and  advanced  standing: 
with  full  explanations  of  source,  date,  and  circumstances,  amount  and  limitations  of  credit  allowed,  together 
with  original  signed  and  dated  credentials  in  support  of  such  credit.  Second:  A  clear  record  of  all  credit  earned  in 
the  school,  showing  date,  character,  and  amount,  catalogue  numberof  course,  memoranda  of  changes,  conditions,  or 
examinations  involved,  with  filed  or  recorded  authorization  of  irregularities.  Third:  Similar  descriptions  of  all  fur- 
ther credit  granted  but  not  earned  at  the  school,  such  as  correspondence  and  extension  credit,  allowance  for  expe- 
rience, private  study,  and  so  forth,  when  validated  by  examination .  Fourth :  A  record  of  all  certificates  and  diplomas 
issued,  with  balance-sheet  stating  the  catalogue  requirements  followed  and  the  manner  in  which  these  were  met. 
Certain  other  facts  as  to  teaching  experience  and  personal  history  are  desirable,  but  the  above  are  absolutely  indis- 
pensable. In  their  study  of  the  records  at  the  various  schools  the  members  of  the  enquiry  staff  made  careful  note  of 
the  various  local  conditions,  and  later  drew  up  a  form  of  record  that  seemed  appropriate.  This  draft  was  prepared  as 
a  suggestion  to  Warrensburg  in  replacing  the  records  destroyed  there  shortly  before,  and  may  be  of  use  to  any  school 
of  the  same  general  type.  Copies  may  be  secured  from  the  Foundation. 


844  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

be  In  charge  of  an  independent  officer  subject  only  to  the  direction  of  the  faculty  or 
faculty  committee. 

Underlying  the  above  policy  is  the  general  principle,  accepted  by  all  good  educa- 
tional institutions,  that  institutional  credit  is  assignable  not  merely  for  work  done, 
but  only  for  work  done  under  certain  guaranteed  and  verifiable  conditions  that  meet 
general  approval  and  are  open  to  appropriate  inspection.  As  a  convenience  to  indi- 
viduals, credit  vouched  for  by  other  good  institutions  is  accepted  and  the  privilege 
of  examination  is  extended,  but  the  right  to  review  the  conditions  under  which  work 
elsewhere  is  done,  as  well  as  to  stipulate  that  examination  may  be  taken  only  when 
adequate  preparation  is  apparent,  must  invariably  be  exercised  by  the  institution,  or 
by  its  agent  for  the  purpose,  the  state  department  of  education. 

8.  Graduation,  Certification^  and  Appointment 

The  normal  school  has  certain  duties  in  the  matters  of  selecting,  labeling,  and  plac- 
ing its  graduates  that  may  be  grouped  together  as  a  final  feature  of  administration. 

a.  GRADUATION 

Until  quite  recently  the  normal  school  has  considered  graduation  from  its  complete 
curriculum  as  a  matter  of  secondary  consideration  in  the  sum  total  of  its  efforts.  The 
schools  have  been  concerned  chiefly  with  short  courses  for  transient  students,  and  as 
an  inducement  to  these,  have  held  out  special  recognition  to  be  awarded  at  the  end 
of  each  successive  year.  According  to  Joseph  Baldwin's  scheme  at  Kirksville,  a  youth 
of  fourteen  starting  with  "a  good  knowledge  of  Common  School  Arithmetic,  Geog- 
raphy, Grammar,  and  U.  S.  History5'  and  progressing  with  "three  studies  and  two  or 
three  drills"  daily  in  forty-minute  recitations,  became  successively  a  Bachelor  of  Ele- 
mentary Didactics,  a  Bachelor  of  Scientific  Didactics,  and  a  Bachelor  of  Arts  and 
Philosophic  Didactics,  all  within  four  years,  not  to  mention  a  mastership  awaiting 
him  after  two  years'  experience  in  teaching.  Scholastic  decoration  could  hardly  be 
more  lavishly  provided.  These  degrees  were  actually  awarded  on  an  average  of  about 
ten  a  year  in  the  case  of  the  advanced  degree,  up  to  1884,  when  there  was  substituted 
a  single  certificate  at  the  end  of  the  second  year,  and  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Sci- 
entific Didactics  after  the  fourth.  This  degree,  changed  in  1902 l  to  Bachelor  of  Peda- 
gogy, was  discontinued  in  1914.  Much  the  same  changes  occurred  at  the  other  schools 
and  at  approximately  the  same  time.  The  degree  of  AJB.  was  first  offered  at  Kirks- 
ville and  Warrensburg  in  1904,  and  at  Cape  Girardeau  a  year  earlier.  It  was  discon- 
tinued, except  at  Cape  Girardeau,  in  1916,  when  the  conference  agreement  of  the 
normal  schools  and  the  university  recognized  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  in 
Education  as  the  common  goal  of  the  professional  curriculum. 

The  allurement  of  degrees  seems  not  to  have  affected  greatly  the  proportion  of  grad- 

1  Catalogue,  Kirksville,  1902,  page  23. 


GRADUATION,  CERTIFICATION,  AND  APPOINTMENT          345 

nates.  In  1875,1  out  of  a  total  of  seven  hundred  nine  students  at  Kirks ville,  only 
seventy -two  succeeded  in  finishing  the  work  laid  out  In  one  or  another  of  the  last  three 
years.  The  rest  were  in  the  first  year  or  below,  or  attended  for  only  a  part  of  a  year. 
So  also  in  1883-84,  grammar9  rhetoric.  United  States  history,  and  beginning  Latin 
enrolled  enormous  classes,  while  many  advanced  courses  were  not  given  at  all.  Arith- 
metic had  one  hundred  sixty-seven  students,  while  physics  had  only  five,  trigonometry 
two,  and  astronomy  one.  Few  graduates  could  be  culled  from  such  an  enrolment, 
and  to  all  appearances  the  conditions  were  similar  in  the  other  schools. 

From  1887  on,  graduation  from  the  normal  school  carried  with  it  a  state  license 
to  teach,  previously  secured  only  by  special  examination  or  by  favor  of  the  state 
superintendent  on  the  strength  of  examinations  by  the  school.  This  privilege  does 
not  appear  to  have  had  any  immediate  effect  upon  the  number  of  graduates,  which 
remained  nearly  the  same  until  about  1900,  when  it  increased  rapidly  with  the 
mounting  attendance. 

The  number  of  advanced  graduates  in  proportion  to  the  total  attendance  has  stead- 
ily tho  slowly  increased  from  the  outset.  Comparing  averages  of  five-year  periods,  the 
change  is  from  about  two  per  cent  in  1875-80  to  nearly  seven  per  cent  in  1909-14 
and  nearly  nine  per  cent  in  1915-16.  A  six-year  school,  such  as  the  normal  schools 
chiefly  are,  holding  its  students  from  the  beginning  and  graduating  classes  of  not  less 
than  two-thirds  of  their  original  size,  would  release  about  thirteen  per  cent  of  its 
attendance  each  year.  It  is  interesting  to  discover  that  Warrensburg  did  still  better 
in  1916,  making  a  record  (14.8)  nearly  twice  as  good  as  that  of  any  other  school.  This 
would  seem  to  indicate  a  steadier,  more  regular  attendance,  more  students  held  thru 
the  course,  and  fewer  transients.  This  record  is  probably  due  also  to  the  fact  that  the 
two-year  course  drawing  students  directly  from  high  school  is  better  developed  at 
Warrensburg. 

It  is  perhaps  worth  noting,  that  in  its  general  policy  of  graduation  the  normal  school 
of  to-day  is  exactly  repeating  upon  the  collegiate  level,  its  earlier  experience  upon  the 
secondary  level.  It  offers  a  distinct  terminal  recognition,  not  at  the  close  of  any  par- 
ticular curriculum,  but  at  the  end  of  each  annual  section  of  the  four-year  period;  on 
three  of  these  four  occasions,  it  gives  a  "diploma."  Its  first  two  years  are  crowded, 
while  the  third  and  fourth  are  meagrely  attended,  as  in  earlier  days. 

6.  CERTIFICATION  OF  GRADUATES 

A  plan  for  automatic  certification  by  the  normal  schools  was  contained  in  the  draft 
for  the  normal  school  legislation  in  1870,2  but  was  omitted  in  the  act  as  passed,  pos- 
sibly out  of  deference  to  competing  colleges.  As  stated  above,  certification  by  normal 
schools  was  provided  for  by  law  in  1887,  and  has  been  practised  since.  According  to 
this  law  the  graduates  of  the  "four-year  course "  (the  present  sixty-hour  curriculum) 
were  to  have  an  unlimited  or  life  certificate;  and  the  graduates  of  the  " two-year 

1  Catalogue*  Kirksville,  1875,  pages  6,  7, 15.  z  Senate  Journal,  1870,  pages  551,  552. 


846  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

course"1  were  licensed  for  four  years.  The  life  of  the  latter  certificate  was  reduced  to 
two  years  in  1889.  Renewal  of  the  two-year  license  at  present  requires  additional 
study  at  a  normal  school  to  an  amount  varying  from  ten  to  twenty  semester  hours 
according  to  the  school. 

PBESENT  FORM  OF  CERTIFICATION  INADEQUATE 

The  degrees  and  diplomas  available  at  the  normal  schools  are  of  little  moment  in 
comparison  with  the  all-important  question  as  to  how  the  skill  and  learning  there  ac- 
quired for  teaching  are  made  available  for  the  service  of  the  people  of  the  state,  who 
pay  the  bills.  It  is  a  characteristic  of  teaching  certificates  in  Missouri,  from  the  lowest 
to  the  highest,  that  so  far  as  the  state  is  concerned,  the  possessor  may  teach  in  any 
school,  and  may  teach  any  subject  that  he  chooses.  The  virtue  needed  for  this  roving 
activity  is  exhausted,  now  in  two  years  and  now  in  five,  but  once  a  sixty -hour  curricu- 
lum at  a  normal  school  is  achieved,  it  lasts  forever !  The  normal  schools  have  sought 
to  correct  this  absurdity  by  issuing  their  diplomas  with  "designated  ability,"  in  order 
that  those  who  read  may  know  at  least  part  of  the  truth.  But  few  school  boards  read 
diplomas,  and  still  fewer  would  heed  them  without  suitable  legislation;  as  a  result, 
persons  with  scarcely  a  vestige  of  proper  qualification  or  even  of  schooling  teach  in 
elementary  schools,  while  others,  usually  with  more  schooling  but  equally  unqualified 
for  their  work,  teach  in  high  schools.2 

CERTIFICATION  SHOULD  BE  SPECIFIC 

The  remedy  for  this  situation  is  simple  and  appeals  to  the  reason  and  experience 
of  educated  communities  the  world  over ;  it  is  to  see  to  it  that  only  those  are  permitted 
to  teach  who  are  qualified  to  do  the  teaching  that  they  undertake.  This  was,  of  course, 
the  intention  when  certification  of  teachers  was  first  devised,  and  an  examination  was 
required  of  teachers  in  order  to  protect  Missouri  school  children  who  were  learning  to 
read,  write,  and  cipher.  To  do  as  well  to-day  is  to  require  that  teachers  of  the  sixth 
grade  possess  the  ability  to  teach  children  of  that  age  in  a  fashion  that  is  now  con- 
sidered satisfactory.  At  present  each  community  or  district  in  Missouri  decides  for  it- 
self what  the  value  of  a  certificate  is  to  be,  and  there  is  no  point  whatever  in  demand- 
ing the  sort  of  certificate  that  the  state  now  requires.  Under  such  circumstances  training 
schools  have  little  inducement  to  prepare  a  student  satisfactorily  for  any  position; 
and  a  variety  of  purposes  divides  the  interest  and  weakens  the  performance  of  each 
teacher.  Missouri  should  terminate  the  confusion  and  contradiction  of  this  situation, 
and  secure  for  herself  the  real  fruits  of  her  fifty-year  campaign  for  better  teachers ; 
any  other  course  is  wasteful  and  a  wholly  unnecessary  injury  to  the  children  and  youth 
of  the  state. 

1  Little  by  little  thru  adjustment  to  students  comingr  from  high  schools  this  "course  "  has  been  advanced  one  year, 
and  now  requires  but  one  year  less  work  than  does  the  old  "four-year  course"  (the  sixty-hour  curriculum). 
8  The  state  superintendent  has  recently  tried  to  better  conditions  by  requiring  specific  preparation  in  teachers  teach- 
ing in  high  schools  that  seek  state  classification. 


GRADUATION,  CERTIFICATION,  AND  APPOINTMENT          347 

To  accomplish  this  change  successfully,  three  steps  are  essential:  first,  the  formula- 
tion and  acceptance  of  reasonable  qualifications  for  the  specific  teaching  positions  in 
the  public  school  system ;  second,  the  provision  of  adequate  facilities  for  giving  teachers 
these  qualifications;  and  third,  the  aforesaid  requirement  that  each  teacher  shall  teach 
only  the  subjects  wherein  he  has  had  the  requisite  preparation.  These  are  simple  prin- 
ciples, and  can  be  set  forth  clearly  in  law,  but  their  execution  is  an  intricate  task  with 
which  no  law  should  attempt  to  deal.  Daring  the  period  of  administrative  immaturity 
of  its  education  department  Missouri,  like  most  other  states,  has  sought  precautions 
by  writing  into  statute  law  minute  specifications  of  all  sorts.  In  the  case  of  teachers 
certificates,  the  legislators  have  defined  the  procedure  with  elaborate  detail,  including 
the  subjects  for  examination,  apparently  without  realizing  that  whether  an  examina- 
tion in  "physics"  means  much  or  nothing  depends  wholly  on  the  superintendent  after 
all.  It  is  the  same  with  the  rest  of  these  administrative  items  embodied  in  law.  The 
state  can  reasonably  define  its  wishes  in  general  terms;  its  best  and  only  guarantee 
for  satisfactory  execution  thereof  is  to  ensure  trained,  competent,  and  permanent  offi- 
cers for  the  purpose.  As  pointed  out  elsewhere,1  this  assurance  in  Missouri  requires  a 
change  in  the  constitution. 

CERTIFICATES  SHOULD  ISSUE  FROM  ONE  SOURCE 

Assuming  for  the  time  being  a  well-organized  state  department  with  a  permanent, 
trained  executive,  the  best  interests  of  the  teachers  of  the  state  would  require  that 
all  certificates  of  whatever  character  be  issued  from  the  state  office.  This  admits  of  no 
doubt  in  so  far  as  county  certificates  are  concerned,  and  is  already  near  fulfilment  in 
Missouri.2  Certificates  for  work  done  at  institutions  should  be  issued  from  the  same 
source.  Under  the  present  arrangement  a  life  certificate  to  teach  in  any  school  is  avail- 
able for  white  teachers  from  seven  different  directions — five  normal  schools,  the  uni- 
versity, or  the  state  department  of  education.  One  normal  school  may  have  granted 
it  for  success  in  two  years  of  work  in  lieu  of  study  at  the  university;  another  for  a 
partial  curriculum  looking  toward  some  high  school  subject;  another  for  a  thorough 
preparation  for  teaching  primary  children;  while  the  university  confers  it  on  a  pro- 
spective school  superintendent,  and  the  state  department  offers  it  for  a  set  of  general 
examinations  or  for  the  completion  of  certain  work  in  colleges,  and  yet  aH  the  recip- 
ients may  be  using  the  document  as  authority  for  teaching  in  the  eighth  grade.  Such 
diverse  values  of  the  educational  currency  are  bound  to  result  from  a  divided  authority 
of  issue,  and  they  confuse  and  weaken  the  teacher's  position  throughout  the  state. 
Teachers  should  be  considered  as  officers  of  the  state,  and  their  credentials  should 
logically  proceed  from  the  state's  responsible  educational  representative  in  charge  of 
the  public  schools. 

1  Pages  63  ff. 

2  The  state  superintendent  determines  the  questions  for  all  county  examinations,  and  directs  the  reading  of  the 
papers  in  a  large  proportion  of  them. 


848  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  the  normal  schools  and  the  university  should 
exert  no  influence  over  the  certification  of  their  students.  In  those  respects  in  which 
they  are  fitted  to  act,  their  influence  should  be  paramount.  The  state  superintendent, 
in  his  capacity  of  general  inspector  of  public  education,  presumably  knows  the  schools 
and  the  school  communities  of  the  state— what  they  need  and  what  they  can  pay. 
He  recommends  and  controls  state  school  aids  and  permanent  funds.  He  has  a  care- 
fully planned  policy  for  the  gradual  improvement  of  the  schools — that  is  to  say, 
chiefly,  of  the  teachers.  It  is  he,  therefore,  who  can  best  know  what  teaching  positions 
may  be  differentiated  in  certification,  how  extensive  a  curriculum  the  salary  in  each 
type  of  position  will  justify,  whether  the  certificates  should  be  temporary  or  perma- 
nent, and  how  much  further  preparation  should  be  required  for  renewal.  These  are 
all  administrative  details  to  be  determined  not,  indeed,  at  the  caprice  of  one  man,  but 
as  the  slowly  matured  program  of  his  office,  publicly  discussed,  thoroughly  understood, 
and  changing  from  year  to  year  as  the  conditions  of  the  service  alter  the  needs.  It  is 
a  fundamental  error  to  put  them  into  statute. 

THE  INSTITUTIONS'  SHARE  IN  CERTIFICATION 

On  the  other  hand,  the  institutions  that  prepare  teachers  are  equipped  with  skilled 
instructors  for  that  purpose.  It  is  their  business  to  agree  upon  and  determine  the  nature 
of  the  work  for  which  certificates  to  teach  shall  be  granted.  Within  the  limits  of  aim 
and  time  set  by  the  state  superintendent's  office,  they  must  decide  what  is  the  most 
advantageous  preparation  that  in  two  years,  if  current  salaries  will  warrant  no  more, 
will  equip  a  sixth  grade  teacher,  or  in  four  years  a  primary  supervisor,  or  in  six  years 
a  school  superintendent.  School  autonomy  in  this  matter  is  plainly  a  blunder;  the 
training  schools  of  a  state  must  work  these  questions  out  and  move  together,  and  for 
this  purpose  some  centralized  form  of  organization  is  indispensable.1 

The  initiative  and  authority  of  the  schools  themselves  in  this  process  is  an  asset 
that  should  be  retained  at  any  cost.  It  would  be  easy  to  assign  the  power  over  such 
schools  to  the  state  office  and  thereby  to  turn  the  training  institutions  into  factories 
and  their  directors  into  foremen,  as  has  already  been  done  in  some  states.  The  sug- 
gested organization  of  the  normal  schools  as  an  integral  part  of  the  state  university 
was  intended  to  make  this  impossible.  The  dignity  and  power  of  the  independent 
professional  scholar  should  be  as  much  a  trait  of  the  state's  servant  as  of  any  private 
worker,  and  while  in  preparing  teachers  he  serves  a  carefully  controlled  and  measured 
need,  he  must  be  allowed  to  do  it  with  the  vitality  and  free  responsibility  of  a  genuine 
educator.  This  is  already  true  of  other  professional  branches  and  should  be  preemi- 
nently true  of  education. 


1  See  Chapter  IV, 


GRADUATION,  CERTIFICATION,  AND  APPOINTMENT          349 

NEED  OF  A  UNIFIED  ADMINISTRATION 

It  will  at  once  be  seen  how  this  joint  responsibility  for  developing  and  utilizing 
the  state's  teaching  power  would  be  facilitated  by  the  unified  administration  already 
proposed.  By  that  plan  a  single  board  of  education  is  expected  to  operate  thru  its 
state  superintendent  for  elementary  and  secondary  schools,  and  thru  its  university 
chancellor  for  higher  education,  including  the  preparation  of  all  teachers.  The  state 
law  should  make  the  board  responsible  simply  for  the  registration  and  certification 
of  the  character,  preparation,  and  proved  skill  of  all  teachers  in  the  public  schools. 
Under  the  board,  the  state  superintendent,  because  of  his  knowledge  of  the  field, 
should  determine  the  number  and  kinds  of  position  for  which  teachers  shall  be  pre- 
pared and  certified,  the  length  of  their  training,  the  life  and  character  of  their  cre- 
dentials. Under  the  same  board  the  university  in  turn,  thru  its  group  of  presidents1 
in  charge  of  the  professional  preparation  of  teachers,  should  determine  the  character 
of  the  curricula  in  every  respect  and  supervise  them,  it  should  conduct  all  examina- 
tions, and  should  become  responsible,  in  general,  for  the  quality  of  the  teacher's  per- 
formance. The  two  departments  under  one  board  should  be  in  constant  and  intimate 
contact  and  interaction,  and  would  be  dependent  upon  each  other  for  ultimate  success. 

A  plan  of  this  character  would  make  possible  certain  changes  much  needed  in  Mis- 
souri. Certainly  no  student  fresh  from  the  normal  school  should  be  given  a  life  license 
to  teach  anywhere.  Such  a  permit,  if  ever  granted,  should  be  issued  only  after  a  pro- 
longed and  thorough  test  under  the  scrutiny  of  careful  supervisors  of  the  candidate's 
ability  in  active  service.  Practice  teaching  at  the  schools,  as  at  present  conducted, 
gives  a  valuable  but  a  very  inadequate  opportunity  for  this  test,  as  Missouri  super- 
intendents well  know.  In  addition  to  much  better  practice  facilities  at  the  normal 
schools,  some  form  of  the  so-called  "apprentice"  system  is  needed.  This  would  be  very 
difficult  to  arrange  under  present  conditions,  but  would  be  a  simple  matter  under  a 
single  board  of  education  controlling  the  certificate  privileges.  Such  a  board  could 
take  a  suitable  number  of  schools  in  the  state,  selecting  them  according  to  the  quali- 
fications of  the  superintendent  and  of  one  or  two  especially  designated  teachers.  Here 
the  normal  school  graduates  could  be  required  to  spend  a  year  in  carefully  supervised 
practice  before  receiving  permits  for  independent  work  elsewhere.  They  would  be 
paid,  of  course,  a  reasonable  amount,  and  a  bonus  would  go  to  the  supervisors  or  to 
the  school  or  to  both  for  their  service.  The  details  could  be  worked  out  gradually;  the 
point  that  it  is  desired  to  emphasize  is  that  nothing  of  this  kind  is  easily  possible 
until  a  unified  administration  with  complete  powers  takes  hold  of  the  problem;  to 
attempt  to  legislate  on  a  matter  of  this  kind  could  have  no  good  results. 

c.  APPOINTMENT  OF  GRADUATES 

The  final  purpose  of  a  normal  school  is  fulfilled  only  as  its  fully  prepared  gradu- 
ates are  brought  into  effective  relations  with  the  state's  youth  in  some  permanent 

1  The  state  superintendent  would  presumably  be  an  active  voting-  member  of  this  group,  See  page  57. 


350  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

teaching  position.  Inasmuch  as  the  success  of  this  adjustment  is  likely  to  turn  on  the 
extent  to  which  both  teacher  and  position  are  clearly  understood,  an  important  re- 
sponsibility devolves  upon  the  school. 

PRESENT  METHOD  OF  RECOMMENDING-  TEACHERS 

In  Missouri  this  responsibility  is  actually  much  more  lightly  felt  than  might  at 
first  be  supposed.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  fact  that  the  normal  schools 
have  never  had  serious  difficulty  in  placing  their  students;1  so  great  is  the  economic 
pressure  that  their  chief  concern  is  to  keep  students  from  taking  positions  before  com- 
pleting the  curricula.  Furthermore,  the  nature  of  the  preparation  offered  reduces  the 
problem  of  adjustment  to  a  minimum.  Both  in  theory  and  practice  the  training  has 
been  "  general,"  with  no  particular  position  or  set  of  conditions  in  view.  Brief  con- 
ferences with  the  superintendents  in  the  twenty-five  largest  towns  and  cities  of  Mis- 
souri made  it  entirely  clear  that  most  of  these  men  expected  their  teachers  to  receive 
their  specific  training  after  they  engaged  them.  The  normal  schools  had  given  them 
perhaps  two  years  of  general  studies,  had  exercised  little  discrimination  or  selection 
in  passing  them  thru,2  and  now  turned  them  over  to  the  superintendents  to  discover 
what  sort  of  teaching  each  could  best  do.  To  send  to  a  normal  school  for  a  trained 
and  tested  fourth  or  seventh  grade  teacher  was  not  the  custom;  the  superintendents 
said  they  would  be  glad  to  do  so,  but  were  skeptical  of  the  ability  of  the  schools  to 
supply  them. 

Under  these  circumstances  it  is  evident  that  the  methods  of  the  ordinary  employ- 
ment agency  are  sufficient :  bring  the  parties  together  to  determine  certain  items  of 
appearance,  personality,  and  address;  make  assurance  of  good  character,  intelligence, 
and  industry,  and  if  salary  and  location  are  satisfactory,  the  thing  is  done.  In  the 
case  of  high  school  teachers,  the  amount  of  study  in  certain  departments  may  be  con- 
sidered, but  this  is  not  always  indispensable.  Neither  from  the  normal  school  appoint- 
ments committee  nor  from  the  superintendents  themselves  could  it  be  discovered  that 
the  latter  enquired  into  the  record  of  the  candidate  in  practice  teaching,  or  felt  that 
to  be  any  criterion  of  future  success. 

DEMAND  FOR  TEACHERS  NOT  YET  SPECIALIZED 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  normal  school's  vagueness  of  training  and  imperfect 
knowledge  of  the  candidate  are  probably  fully  duplicated  in  the  uncertainty  on  the 
part  of  many  superintendents  and  board  members  as  to  the  exact  qualities  needed.  In 
the  case  of  board  members  the  situation  is,  of  course,  hopeless ;  such  officials  ought 
never  to  be  in  a  position  to  choose  a  teacher.  Superintendents,  as  members  of  the  same 
craft,  are  likely  to  be  fair  judges  of  general  characteristics,  but  the  great  majority  of 
superintendents  with  whom  the  normal  schools  come  in  contact  are  without  supervis- 
ory training  and  usually  without  genuine  supervisory  experience.  They  have  been  pro- 

1  See  page  326.  2  See  pages  321  ff. 


GRADUATION,  CERTIFICATION,  AND  APPOINTMENT          351 

moted  often  without  special  study,  and  invariably  without  special  examination  or 
license,  from  teaching  positions  to  their  present  places,  where  some  teaching  is  still 
often  expected  of  them  in  addition  to  conducting  the  school  and  handling  the  disci- 
pline, the  parents,  and  the  board.  For  such  men  the  successful  teacher  is  preeminently 
the  best  "tactician,"  as  one  normal  school  president  expressed  it, — the  teacher  who 
takes  care  of  her  own  troubles,  keeps  harmony  with  the  parents,  and  pleases  the  direc- 
tors. It  need  hardly  be  said  that  these  traits  may  and  do  frequently  occur  quite  inde- 
pendently of  the  abilities  necessary  in  a  thoroughly  informed  and  skilful  classroom 
teacher,  and  until  supervision  is  more  highly  refined  than  it  is  to-day,  they  will  con- 
tinue to  be  first  in  demand. 

The  conditions  of  employment  above  described  actually  fit  a  small  proportion  of  the 
cases.  For  a  superintendent  to  appear  at  the  normal  school  in  person  and  select  his 
teachers  is  an  advanced  development ;  they  usually  write,  and  selection  is  then  made 
between  rival  applicants  locally,  where  school  directors  may  add  their  discretion  to 
suggestions  of  the  superintendent.  Sometimes  the  normal  school  is  simply  asked  to 
"send  over  some  one,"  who  is  forthwith  accepted  on  faith.  In  all  these  cases  the  writ- 
ten recommendations  of  the  school  touching  general  qualities  are  of  value  as  before, 
but  the  result  in  respect  to  specific  abilities  as  a  teacher  tends  to  become  still  more 
of  a  lottery  than  ever. 

The  machinery  for  placing  students  is  in  general  the  same  at  the  different  schools. 
An  appointments  committee,  including  or  perhaps  headed  by  a  member  of  the  train- 
ing department,  has  charge  of  applications  and  recommendations.  A  blank  filled  out 
by  the  student,  as  in  teachers'  agencies,  is  the  chief  feature  of  the  plan.  So  far  as  could 
be  learned,  judgments  and  suggestions  are  made,  except  at  Warrensburg,  on  a  wholly 
informal  basis,  sometimes  by  a  single  member,  sometimes  by  a  consensus  of  several 
teachers,  but  without  any  carefully  defined  method  or  technique.  In  some  cases  no 
stenographer  or  assistant  was  furnished  the  officer  doing  the  work,  and  the  latter  was 
obliged  to  spend  many  hours  each  week  laboriously  handling  the  correspondence 
besides  doing  full  work  in  the  classroom.  The  organization  of  the  data  seemed  to  be 
most  complete  and  systematic  at  Warrensburg,  where  filed  confidential  statements 
from  various  teachers  as  to  the  candidate's  special  characteristics  and  abilities  were 
kept  available  for  immediate  reference.  Here,  also,  an  attempt  was  made  to  secure 
from  superintendents  in  the  district  an  annual  rating  of  the  normal  school  graduates, 
but  no  important  use  had  apparently  been  made  of  the  returns. 

IMPROVEMENTS  NEEDED  IN  SYSTEM  OF  APPOINTMENTS 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  present  system  of  student  recommendation  and  appoint- 
ment from  the  normal  schools  could  be  greatly  improved.  At  present  it  Is  largely  a 
hit-or-miss  process,  well  meant  and  helpful  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  proceeding  upon  too 
few  data,  indifferently  organized,  and  regarded  as  incidental  rather  than  as  a  funda- 
mentally important  aspect  of  the  school's  work.  In  a  strictly  professional  school  there 


OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

is  every  reason  why  each  Instructor  should  consider  a  student  primarily  as  a  prospec- 
tive teacher,  and  should  contribute  in  a  simple  but  definite  form,  his  judgment  as  to 
that  student's  qualifications  for  teaching.  To  form  such  judgments  intelligently  is 
one  of  the  chief  things  that  the  state  should  expect  of  a  normal  school  teacher,  and  a 
major  reason  why  he  should  be  educated  for  the  purpose  and  chosen  with  care.  His 
work  is  not  completely  finished  until  the  training  given  is  successfully  operative  with 
children,  and  he  should  contribute  thereto  by  recognizing  and  assisting  in  a  proper 
disposition  of  his  students'  abilities.  To  be  sure,  the  lack  of  competent  supervision  and 
the  blindness  of  employers  to  essential  conditions  of  good  service  are  difficult  to  com- 
bat, but  a  highly  organized  normal  school  can  have  enormous  effect  in  opening  the 
eyes  of  board  members,  and  in  disciplining  careless  superintendents.  A  clear  know- 
ledge of  a  teacher's  real  qualities,  personal  visitation  and  study  of  her  position  and  sur- 
roundings, if  necessary,  and  a  determination  to"  bring  bad  conditions  and  ignorant 
or  unprofessional  treatment  frankly  and  publicly  to  light  in  her  defence,  are  simply 
routine  duties  on  the  part  of  a  normal  school  that  rises  fully  to  its  opportunity.  For 
the  normal  school  is  the  chief  and  usually  the  only  professional  critic,  counselor,  and 
inspirer  in  its  entire  district. 

NORMAL  SCHOOL  RESPONSIBLE  FOR  TEACHERS  IN  SERVICE 

No  such  agency  can  stand  apart.  The  public  schools  are  its  real  classrooms  and  lab- 
oratories. Its  hold  upon  the  teachers,  and  its  power  to  do  favors  by  sending  good 
'speakers  to  the  various  communities  and  by  giving  sound  expert  advice,  enable  it  to 
exert  a  large  and  beneficent  influence  that  is  all  the  greater  because  it  is  informal  and 
unofficial.  "Local  conditions"  are  but  concrete  professional  problems  to  be  steadily 
analyzed  and  solved.  The  normal  school  should  be  the  unremitting  educational  leader 
at  these  points,  assuming  a  tactful  initiative  for  the  sake  of  its  students,  where  low 
standards  or  opposition  prevail.  Such  service  demands  the  attention  of  the  most  skil- 
ful and  experienced  persons  that  the  school  can  command.  The  proposal  has  been  made 
elsewhere1  for  prolonged  visits  or  exchanges  on  the  part  of  normal  school  teachers  in 
schools  of  the  district,  and  the  further  suggestion  was  made  of  a  special  officer  on  each 
staff  with  field  duties  of  a  purely  educational  nature.2  The  scheme  for  apprenticeship 
alluded  to  in  the  foregoing  section  would  contribute  greatly  to  bringing  the  normal 
school  and  the  schools  in  the  surrounding  region  together.  With  such  contacts  fully 
established,  the  conditions  and  problems  of  each  school  in  the  district  would  be  clearly 
understood  and  intelligently  provided  for  at  the  normal  school,  thus  completing  the 
natural  circuit  of  the  institution's  activity,  and  binding  the  several  communities  to 
its  support.  It  would  be  better  in  the  end,  certainly,  for  a  given  normal  school  to  de- 
velop fruitful  relations  such  as  these  with  the  schools  dependent  wholly  upon  it  for 
guidance,  than  to  use  up  its  funds  on  a  program  of  internal  expansion  merely  to  meet 
the  competition  of  other  normal  schools  or  to  impress  the  public. 

1  See  page  282.          2  See  page  255. 


ADMINISTRATION  AN  ELEMENT  IN  THE  CURRICULUM      353 

9.  The  Quality  of  Normal  School  Administration  as  an  Element  in  the  Normal 

School  Curriculum 

It  would  be  easy  and  proper  to  criticise  the  conduct  of  the  Missouri  normal  school 
from  a  purely  practical  point  of  view,  and  to  show  that,  while  doing  commendable 
work  in  many  respects,  several  of  them  have  failed  to  apply  well-known  principles  of 
good  business  management  to  their  educational  proceedings.  But  the  more  significant 
aspect  of  the  matter  lies  much  deeper.  Public  education  in  which  the  students  trained 
in  these  schools  will  participate  as  teachers  is  largely  a  product  of  institutions  organ- 
ized in  all  essential  respects  on  forms  closely  parallel  to  these  normal  schools ;  rela- 
tions between  teachers  and  pupils,  studies,  recitations,  and  credit  are  all  fundamen- 
tally the  same  in  elementary  schools,  high  schools,  and  normal  schools.  Nothing  is 
more  certain,  therefore,  than  that  the  institutional  treatment  to  which  these  prospec- 
tive teachers  are  subjected  during  their  preparation  will  reproduce  itself  with  unerr- 
ing fidelity  in  the  schools  which  they  control  later.  Just  as  the  young  teacher's  teach- 
ing equipment  is  borrowed  largely  outright  from  his  own  favorite  teachers,  so  his 
notions  of  management,  his  ideals  of  values,  his  conceptions  of  intellectual  honesty 
and  right  are  framed  not  half  so  much  by  the  texts  he  studies  as  by  the  experience 
that  actually  shapes  his  own  progress.  What  chance  with  him  has  a  book's  paragraph 
on  school  ethics  against  a  teacher  or  president  who  out  of  sympathy,  laziness,  or  self- 
interest  gives  him  credit  for  two-thirds  of  a  course  that  he  has  not  taken  ?  A  plea  on 
the  score  of  "experience"  brings  in  added  grades,  the  desire  of  the  school  for  another 
"A.  B."  remits  still  further  obligation,  and  the  downfall  in  that  student's  educational 
morale  is  complete;  education  for  him,  whether  as  high  school  teacher  or  as  superin- 
tendent, henceforth  means  juggling  of  just  that  sort.  Or  possibly  he  is  so  fortunate 
as  to  go  later  to  another  and  different  school  that  imparts  a  bit  of  experience  in  its 
avowed  ideals  with  every  student  contact  and  requirement.  Then  comes  disillusion 
as  to  his  earlier  training.  If  presidents,  whose  judgment  has  overshot  the  mark  of 
"justice  to  the  individual  merits"  of  their  students,  could  hear  what  their  enlight- 
ened graduates  later  say  and  write  of  these  honors  for  which  they  have  bartered, 
they  would  lose  faith  in  their  ability  alone  to  apply  that  principle.  One  does  not 
deride  a  reward  justly  deserved. 

Less  fundamental  but  exactly  similar  is  the  effect  of  the  whole  machinery  of  ad- 
ministration. Classes  with  wide  extremes  of  age,  attainment,  and  experience  represent 
a  thoroughly  bad  example  of  classification.  For  this  reason,  if  for  no  other,  a  train- 
ing school  should  refuse  to  tolerate  situations  that  may  soon  come  to  be  considered 
by  the  students  as  normal.  Overloading,  lack  of  sequence  in  courses,  lack  of  coher- 
ence in  curricula,  all  react  inevitably  on  the  student's  general  ideal  and  feeling  for 
good  educational  practice.  An  inadequate  record  system  and  its  slovenly  adminis- 
tration1 or  the  unbusinesslike  making  and  shifting  of  schedules  at  the  beginning  of 

1  In  going  thru  normal  school  credentials  at  the  university  there  was  discovered  a  set  of  three  statements  of  a  stu- 
dent's work  covering  the  same  period :  one  by  the  student  from  his  credit  cards  and  two  by  the  president  of  the 


354  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

a  term  Is  a  constant  model  of  confusion,  and  proclaims  an  Institutional  dulness  that 
ought  not  to  exist.  Even  in  a  trade  school  all  these  things  are  important  because  of 
their  immediate  effect,  but  in  a  normal  school  they  are  vital  because  they  are  so  In- 
evitably and  widely  circulated  as  ideals  that  are  educationally  correct  or  tolerable. 
Properly  valued,  such  elements  are  quite  as  essential  features  of  the  curriculum  as  the 
formal  courses  themselves,  and  should  be  given  quite  as  careful  attention. 

As  a  result  of  failure  to  perceive  these  points,  it  must  be  admitted  frankly  that  the 
work  of  the  schools  as  a  whole  impresses  the  candid  observer  with  a  pervasive  "  soft- 
ness." By  the  tradition  bred  partly  of  political  dependence  they  have  sought  to  make 
rosy  the  path  of  the  individual  student  instead  of  centring  their  thought  on  train- 
ing him  vigorously  for  the  service  of  the  state.  When  nothing  is  required  for  admis- 
sion, when  thorough  examinations  and  tests  are  heavily  discounted,  when  almost  no 
one  fails  to  pass,  when  a  school  must  say  "it  is  hoped  that  no  student  will  so  mix  his 
courses  that  there  will  be  more  than  two  years  (!)  difference  between  any  of  the  courses 
that  he  takes ; "  when  it  gives  a  student  his  diploma,  but  warns  him  not  to  present 
it  at  other  institutions  because  they  will  not  honor  it;  when,  believing  in  the  rule,  It 
is  unable  to  insist  that  men  and  women  students  should  not  room  in  the  same  house, 
and  when  it  lets  its  meagre  fees  run  indefinitely  for  fear  of  entailing  hardship — the 
outcome  must  be  a  degree  of  spinelessness  ill  associated  with  rational  discipline  for 
teachers  of  American  youth.1  Strong  and  virile  teachers  arise,  if  at  all,  in  spite  of  such 
an  atmosphere;  certainly  not  because  of  it. 


10.  Recent  Changes  in  the  Institutions 

It  has  been  the  aim  of  the  foregoing  sections  to  consider  certain  features  of  normal 
school  administration  on  the  basis  of  the  text  provided  by  the  Missouri  schools  when 
the  study  began  in  1914.  Since  that  time  certain  very  marked  changes  have  taken 
place  without,  however,  impairing  the  validity  of  the  original  text  for  the  present 
purpose,  namely,  an  analysis  for  general  use  of  the  problems  of  this  type  of  higher 
institution  as  presented  currently  by  a  typical  state.  Nevertheless,  in  justice  to  the 
institutions  these  changes  should  receive  more  than  passing  notice. 

It  should  be  said  at  once  that  no  one  of  the  modifications  that  has  occurred  has 
resulted  directly  from  official  recommendations  arising  from  this  study.  When  desired, 
the  members  of  the  enquiry  staff  discussed  their  observations  freely  with  the  teach- 
ers and  authorities,  but  only  so.  On  the  other  hand,  it  would  be  remarkable  if  these 

normal  school,  and  all  materially  different!  At  the  schools  it  was  a  common  experience  to  have  the  president  and 
dean,  or  committee-man,  arrive  at  quite  different  results  in  interpreting  the  same  record. 

1  An  interesting  illustration  of  this  temper  occurred  in  collecting-  data  for  the  present  study.  It  was  desired  to  hear 
from  every  teacher  and  every  student.  Responses  from  the  teachers  were  finally  secured  with  few  exceptions  after 
correspondence  lasting1  over  two  years,  but  the  student  data  were  never  completely  gathered.  At  three  of  the  schools 
it  was  necessary  to  go  thru  the  whole  process  of  printing,  distributing,  and  collecting  student  cards  twice  in  order 
to  get  a  good  proportion.  At  the  state  university,  on  the  other  hand,  the  request  was  made  once  and  every  student 
card  was  in  hand  within  a  week,  and  a  card  from  every  instructor  within  three  weeks,  both  collected  by  the  insti- 
tution itself  without  further  mention  of  the  matter. 


RECENT  CHANGES  355 

informal  discussions,  the  careful  gathering  of  particular  kinds  of  data,,  and  the  em- 
phasis upon  certain  difficult  problems,  had  no  effect  in  hastening  changes  for  which 
the  institutions  had  long  been  ripe.  The  most  notable  of  these  is  the  voluntary  coordi- 
nation of  all  the  institutions.,  including  the  university  and  state  department,  in  the 
administrative  agreement  described  elsewhere.1  Upon  the  basis  of  certain  mutually 
accepted  standards  of  work  the  interchange  of  credit  is  established,  the  normal  schools 
and  the  university  thus  healing  a  breach  of  long  standing.  These  standards  concern 
chiefly  the  training  and  program  of  teachers,  the  admission,  classification,  and  pro- 
gram of  students,  the  differentiation  of  secondary  and  collegiate  work,  as  well  as  of 
elementary  and  advanced  collegiate  work.  They  are  without  exception  in  the  direc- 
tion of  progress  from  earlier  conditions,  and  may  signify  an  epoch-making  change  in 
the  conduct  of  the  schools.  How  completely  these  new  standards  are  now  enforced, 
and  with  what  result,  it  would  be  impossible  to  say  without  reexamining  the  schools, 
but  general  indications  are  exceedingly  favorable.  In  the  matter  of  records,  too,  Kirks- 
ville,  Warrensburg,  Springfield,  and  Mary ville  have  undergone  extensive  transfor- 
mation, utilizing  the  results  of  experience  drawn  from  the  enquiry.  Cape  Girardeau 
already  had  an  excellent  system  which  it  had^only  partially  utilized. 

The  tone  of  a  critical  study  may  be  of  so  gray  a  cast  as  unfairly  to  obscure  great 
merits  which,  exist  and  in  fact  predominate.  The  danger  in  this  case  would  perhaps 
not  have  been  so  great,  had  not  the  schools  of  their  own  motion  challenged  technical 
comparisons  which  they  were  at  many  points  quite  unprepared  to  meet.  However,  the 
essential  soundness  of  these  schools  and  their  great  service  to  the  state  can  scarcely 
be  exaggerated.  The  school  at  Kirksville  represents  a  precious  original  tradition  of 
courage  and  progress  in  education.  It  has  on  its  faculty  an  exceptionally  large  num- 
ber of  gifted  teachers — a  fact  for  which  its  leader  is  as  completely  responsible  as  for 
its  gross  defects.  One  could  admire  the  reckless  vigor  with  which  the  school  has  so 
persistently  courted  expansion,  had  the  methods  used  been  more  scrupulous.  From 
an  administrative  point  of  view  its  practices  should  be  overhauled.  Warrensburg,  of 
the  three  original  schools,  has  clung  most  consistently  to  Its  task,  the  making  of 
teachers — an  attitude  moulded  and  fixed  by  its  clear-sighted  president  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  George  L.  Osborne.  Its  inward  spirit  and  organization  have  placed  it 
more  nearly  than  the  others  upon  a  level  of  true  collegiate  performance,  tho  this 
fact  has  not  been  unattended  by  difficulties  that  might  be  less  apparent  under  a 
more  autocratic  system.  The  efforts  of  the  school  at  Cape  Girardeau  have  been  ex- 
pended upon  a  more  difficult  region  than  surrounds  the  first  two  schools,  a  region 
that  is  much  more  rural  and  detached,  and  where,  as  at  Springfield,  there  must  be 
endless  accommodation  to  the  individual.  This  aim  has  led  both  schools  astray  at 
certain  points.  Cape  Girardeau  has,  however,  done  its  work  with  much  devotion  and 
with  skill,  as  the  high  rating  of  the  practice  school  reveals.  The  institution  breathes 
the  dignity  and  refinement  of  its  beautiful  buildings,  and  tho  there  is  a  touch  of 

1  See  page  61. 


356  OPERATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

pompousness  In  maintaining  for  years  a  "  college  department "  with  few  or  no  one  in 
it,  the  vacant  curriculum  has  at  least  been  a  symbol  of  aspiration.  Springfield  in  a 
dozen  remarkable  years  has  developed  a  reservoir  of  fine  educational  ability  hitherto 
almost  untouched  and  of  priceless  value  to  the  state.  The  zeal  and  self-sacrificing 
dedication  to  needy  youth  exhibited  by  certain  members  of  this  faculty  are  beyond 
praise,  tho  this  trait  is  not  by  any  means  confined  to  Springfield.  The  achievement  of 
the  practice  school  in  the  place  it  holds  in  the  larger  institution  and  in  the  quality 
of  its  product  deserves  special  commendation.  Owing  to  various  vicissitudes  the  school 
at  Maryville  has  but  recently  found  its  true  pace.  With  an  equal  chance  it  should 
match  the  other  schools,  tho  one  cannot  but  regret  that  this  school,  with  Its  choices 
till  recently  still  before  it,  should  have  set  Itself  merely  to  duplicate  the  others,  rather 
than  to  try  what  intensive  labor  on  a  clear,  restricted,  well-planned  program  would  do. 


IX 

PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

IT  Is  difficult  to  devise  a  definition  of  the  "product"  of  the  normal  school  in  Mis- 
souri. Among  teachers  now  in  service  attendance  at  a  normal  school  varies  from  one 
to  twenty-five  terms.  The  name  "graduate"  has  usually  been  reserved  for  those  who 
completed  the  old  four-year  curriculum — at  first  a  purely  secondary  curriculum,  but 
since  1900  gradually  approaching  the  equivalent  of  two  years  of  collegiate  work. 
On  either  side  of  that  point,  however,  certificates  or  diplomas  have  been  granted,  if 
desired,  at  the  end  of  each  year,  giving  the  student  a  worse  or  a  better  right  to  use 
the  term  "graduate"  as  his  interests  might  dictate.  If  those  completing  the  two-year 
collegiate  or  "sixty-hour"  curriculum  be  counted  as  standard  graduates,  the  schools 
together  show  thirty-seven  per  cent  of  this  grade  or  above  during  the  past  fourteen 
years.  Warrensburg  leads  the  list  with  a  total  of  forty-four  per  cent,  and  a  recent 
production  of  over  one-half. 

The  more  important  question  is  not  how  many  have  been  in  or  thru  the  normal 
school,  but  rather,  what  is  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  contribution  made  by  nor- 
mal schools  to  the  improvement  of  instruction  in  the  public  schools  of  Missouri. 
This  question  has  been  approached  from  two  points  of  view :  one,  an  examination  of 
the  destination  and  performance  of  the  groups  of  graduates  as  they  leave  the  schools, 
and  the  other,  a  study  of  the  product  of  the  schools  as  it  exists  in  the  teaching  pop- 
ulation of  the  state.  The  first  is  necessarily  partial,  and  because  of  defective  records, 
is  limited  to  small  tho  representative  numbers ;  the  second  supplements  the  first  with 
a  cross-section  of  the  entire  service  for  which  the  schools  prepare. 

A.  NORMAL  SCHOOL  GRADUATES  OF  1915 

Of  students  leaving  the  Missouri  normal  schools1  in  1915  with  diplomas  and  cer- 
tificates of  various  grades  and  expecting  to  teach,  over  one- third  went  into  the  same 
county  or  adjoining  counties,  and  another  third  into  other  counties  in  the  district. 
Seven  per  cent  left  the  state ;  these  were  chiefly  from  the  two-year  group,  of  which 
they  numbered  fourteen  per  cent,  and  from  the  three-year  group,  nine  per  cent.  It  is 
surprising  to  see  how  closely  the  four-year  graduates  clung  to  the  vicinity :  aside  from 
seventeen  per  cent  employed  immediately  by  the  normal  schools,  nearly  two-fifths 
taught  in  the  same  or  the  next  county,  outdoing  all  but  the  rural  certificate  teachers 
in  this  respect,  and  giving  further  evidence  of  the  largely  local  appeal  made  by  these 
advanced  curricula. 

If  all  the  students  sent  out  be  grouped  by  occupation,  the  disposition  of  the  vari- 
ous classes  of  graduates  becomes  highly  significant.2  It  seems  that  over  one- third  of 

1  The  information  from  Maryville  -was  too  fragmentary  to  be  of  use. 

2  See  table,  page  438. 


358  PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

them  go  into  rural  schools  — probably  an  understatement  of  the  fact,  for  the  defi- 
cient records  are  chiefly  in  the  low  grades  that  swell  this  group  and  the  next.  This 
should  receive  passing  emphasis,  for  many  normal  schools,  those  of  Missouri  included, 
have  been  much  criticised  for  not  attending  to  the  rural  school  problem.  A  record  of 
one- third  of  the  students  receiving  certificates  sent  into  rural  schools  would  not  be 
a  bad  showing  if  it  could  be  said  that  these  teachers  were  prepared  expressly  for  their 
work,  and  were  not  en  route  to  other  positions  in  preparation  for  which  the  rural 
schools  are  furnishing  the  funds.  Graded  schools  take  at  least  forty-four  per  cent,  and 
probably  would  be  shown  to  take  nearer  one- half,  if  the  records  were  complete.  Those 
who  teach  in  high  schools  number  one-sixth  of  the  total.  As  high  school  teachers  are 
almost  invariably  known  and  reported,  this  is  undoubtedly  a  maximum  proportion. 

The  returns  are  full  of  peculiar  revelations.  With  the  exception  of  rural  school 
teaching,  all  grades  of  instruction  are  represented  in  each  of  the  collegiate  graduat- 
ing groups.  One-sixth  of  the  rural  certificate  graduates  (secondary)  have  crept  into 
graded  schools,  while  almost  three-fifths  of  the  collegiate  one-year  students  are  so 
located.  Less  than  two-fifths  of  those  teachers  who  go  into  graded  elementary  schools 
are  equipped  with  the  minimum  two-year  collegiate  training  for  that  service.  The 
high  school  situation  is  especially  interesting :  over  two- thirds  of  the  normal  school 
"graduates"  in  high  schools  have  had  but  one  or  two  years  of  collegiate  preparation. 
The  administrative  group  is  equally  deficient:  only  one-sixth  of  the  forty- two  so- 
called  "  superintendents ??1  possess  the  equivalent  of  a  college  education.  The  "  thirty- 
hour  "or  one-year  collegiate  class  boasts  eleven  high  school  principals  and  seventeen 
elementary  school  principals.  These  high  school  officials,  to  be  sure,  are  chiefly  teach- 
ers, and  are  in  third  class  or  unclassified  high  schools.  Nevertheless,  they  aspire  to  offer 
a  year  or  two  of  secondary  work  and  to  pose  as  heads  of  schools,  while  possessing  but 
half  the  professional  training  of  good  elementary  teachers.  The  grades  into  which  nor- 
mal school  graduates  go  were  indicated  in  nearly  three-fourths  of  the  cases  and  show 
an  almost  equal  distribution.  This  was  to  be  expected  in  such  a  group  from  the  fact 
that  the  majority  of  them  are  already  experienced  teachers  and  have  left  the  interme- 
diate grades  where  they  began  their  work.  About  fifty-two  per  cent  were  teaching  more 
than  one  grade. 

A  more  minute  analysis  of  the  high  school  group  shows  that  if  we  ignore  the  small 
number — ten  per  cent — that  leave  the  state  to  teach  in  high  schools  elsewhere,  the 
remainder  are  divided  almost  equally  between  first  class  high  schools  and  others. 
The  former  deserve  particular  attention.  One-sixth  of  the  number  have  a  standard 
preparation  of  four  years,  but  nearly  as  many  —  fourteen  per  cent  —  have  had  but 
one  year  of  collegiate  work.  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  fifty-eight  per  cent  of  all  the 
teachers  sent  into  first  class  four-year  high  schools  from  the  normal  schools  in  1915 
had  but  one  or  two  years  of  collegiate  training  —  an  average  of  less  than  is  to-day 
required  in  a  first  class  elementary  school  teacher. 

1  The  titles  used  are  those  current  at  the  schools  for  the  positions  in  question  and  not  the  choice  of  the  candidates. 


NORMAL  SCHOOL  GRADUATES  OF  1915  359 

As  the  "principals"  and  others  giving  no  record  as  to  what  subjects  they  were 
teaching  were  nearly  all  in  third  class  or  unclassified  high  schools,  it  may  be  assumed 
that  they  taught  more  than  one  subject.  On  this  basis  sixteen  per  cent  only  of  the 
total  number  of  graduates  teaching  in  high  school  taught  one  subject  alone,  and 
rather  oddly  about  the  same  proportion  holds  for  the  graduates  of  each  curriculum 
except  the  four-year  group9  of  whom  twenty- two  per  cent  taught  one  subject  only. 
The  combinations  of  subjects  taught  in  the  classified  high  schools  in  1917  are  listed 
in  the  Appendix.1  As  a  large  proportion  of  teachers  there  listed  in  single  subjects 
are  in  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City,  the  duty  of  the  normal  schools  to  give  those  who 
are  to  teach  in  high  schools  a  good  preparation  in  at  least  two  subjects  would  seem 
apparent. 

RELATION  OF  SALARIES  TO  TRAINING 

To  complete  this  brief  description  of  the  normal  school  graduates  during  the  year 
in  question,  account  should  be  taken  of  the  salaries  attached  to  the  positions  to  which 
they  go.  In  the  absence  of  a  complete  record  the  tendency  is  probably  to  rate  sala- 
ries too  high,  for  the  good  fortune  of  well-paid  graduates  is  better  news  at  a  school 
than  the  low  or  average  wage  of  the  less  successful.  Reports  were  secured  from  102& 
of  the  1225  graduates  known  to  be  teaching.  The  schedule  of  their  incomes  shows  the 
consistent  effect  of  training  on  salary;  the  median  monthly  salaries  thru  the  succes- 
sive curricula  are:  rural  certificate,  men  $50,  women  $50;  one-year  collegiate,  men 
$70,  women  $50;  two-year,  men  $75,  women  $55;  three-year,  men  $85,  women  $60; 
four-year,  men'  $105,  women  $65.  This  last  group  is  comparable  with  the  university 
group  at  the  same  stage,  in  which  the  median  salary  for  men  rises  to  $118  and  for 
women  to  $71. 2 

Rearranging  the  data  on  the  basis  of  the  kind  of  positions  taken,  the  following 
result  is  secured : 

Men 
Number        Median     General  Median 

Rural  Schools  80  $50  $47 

Graded  Schools  ,53  65  \  64 

Principals  22  75J 

High  Schools 

First  Class  38  75                    94 

Second  Class  6  953\               75 

Third  Class  13  853/ 

Unclassified  15  75                    75 


Women 
Number        Median      General  Median 


m,    %}    - 


54       65        70 


60 


17  601 
19  55J 
10  63s  55 


Comparison  with  the  general  median  of  salaries  is  not  fully  justified,  as  the  normal 

1  See  page  440. 

2  Median  initial  salaries  of  60  men  and  127  women  graduating  from  the  University  of  Missouri  in  1913, 1914,  and 
1915. 

3  Apparent  inversions  of  the  expected  order  are  due  to  the  fact  that  teachers  in  the  lower  class  schools  are  more 

f\f+a,i\  T%vir»/"«irvalc  Ct  O  WAll 


often  principals  as  well. 


360  PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

school  product  is  on  the  whole  younger  and  less  experienced.  It  is  experienced  to  a 
considerable  extent,  nevertheless,  and  on  that  account  cannot  fairly  be  compared  with 
the  wholly  untried  teacher. 

NORMAL  SCHOOL  STUDENTS  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY 

A  certain  number  of  normal  school  students  go  each  year  to  study  at  other  schools. 
No  attempt  was  made  to  trace  these  students  except  at  the  University  of  Missouri, 
where  they  are  most  numerous,  and  where  a  convenient  feature  of  the  records  made 
an  estimate  of  their  standing  an  easy  matter.  It  is  the  custom  to  assign  additional 
credit  for  work  rated  A^  and  to  subtract  credit  for  work  rated  lower  than  B.  In  re- 
cording this  gain  or  loss  use  is  made  of  a  credit  index,  which  represents  the  propor- 
tion of  total  credit  earned  with  reference  to  the  normal  credit  hours  of  the  courses 
taken.  Thus  a  student  rated  B  throughout  would  be  indexed  as  normal,  or  1009  be- 
cause his  earned  credit  and  the  credit  hours  of  his  courses  are  identical. 

In  1912-15,  two  hundred  ninety-nine  students  who  had  previously  attended  Mis- 
souri normal  schools  were  registered  at  the  university.  Of  these,  seven  per  cent  showed 
the  normal  index — that  is,  had  done  average  work  rated  B  in  all  their  courses.  Thirty 
per  cent  were  below  and  sixty-three  per  cent  were  above  normal.  The  average  of 
the  entire  group  is  almost  exactly  normal,  showing  that  the  quite  good  work  of  the 
majority  was  nearly  offset  by  the  very  poor  work  of  the  minority.  The  median  index, 
however,  is  102.9,  or  nearly  three  points  better  than  normal. 

Nearly  three-fifths  of  the  number  were  men  —  a  noteworthy  fact?  considering  how 
largely  women  predominate  in  the  normal  schools,  and  further  evidence  of  the  mo- 
tive underlying  male  attendance  there.  They  show  a  median  of  102.1  as  compared 
with  104.9  among  the  women.  Two-thirds  of  them  had  graduated  at  the  normal 
school  (two-year  collegiate  course),  and  a  larger  proportion  of  the  graduates  than  of 
the  non-graduates  stood  high  at  the  university.  It  is  noticeable,  however,  that  with 
the  exception  of  students  from  Cape  Girardeau,  the  non-graduate  men  who  stood 
high,  stood  much  higher  than  did  the  graduate  men  who  were  above  normal.2  This 
may  indicate  that  altho  a  larger  proportion  of  the  non-graduating  men  who  try  to  do 
university  work  are  unfitted  for  it,  those  who  are  fitted  for  it  do  better  work  the  ear- 
lier they  go  to  the  university.  Evidence  from  a  larger  number  of  cases  is  needed  to 
confirm  such  a  conclusion. 

The  figures  given  seem  to  show  that,  all  told,  the  students  sent  to  the  university 
from  the  normal  schools  represent  a  good  grade  of  material,  altho  they  do  not  win 
such  uniformly  high  rank  as  the  normal  schools  are  inclined  to  maintain.  It  is  com- 
monly stated  that  only  the  best  students  from  the  normal  schools  go  to  the  univer- 
sity at  all.  To  test  this,  the  lists  were  submitted  to  the  normal  schools  for  ratings 

1  These  are  not  the  literal  ratings  applied  at  the  University  of  Missouri,  but  are  used  here  for  the  convenience  of 
the  reader.  A  indicates  the  highest  mark  and  includes  the  ratings  "excellent"  and  " superior"  at  the  university. 

2  Twenty-three  non-graduates  show  a  median  of  109.2  as  compared  with  seventy-six  graduates  with  median  at 
106.6. 


TEACHERS  IN  RURAL  SCHOOLS  361 

from  their  records  with  the  following  results:1  In  a  grouping  with  three  degrees  of 
ability,  A^  B>  and  C,  just  two-thirds  were  assigned  to  the  middle  group  and  one- 
fifth  were  rated  A  ;  not  quite  one-eighth  were  rated  C9  and  one  per  cent  were  consid- 
ered failures.  Among  the  undergraduates  one- tenth  only  were  rated  A>  while  of  the 
graduates  one-fourth  were  so  rated,  two-thirds  falling  in  the  B  group  in  each  case. 
On  the  whole,  the  university  and  the  normal  schools  agree  rather  closely  in  rating  this 
group  of  students :  both  consider  them  above,  altho  not  greatly  above,  the  average, 

B.  NORMAL  SCHOOL  STUDENTS  AMONG  THE  TEACHING  POPULATION 
A  more  reliable  and  comprehensive  idea  of  the  service  of  the  normal  schools  in  the 
state  may  be  gained  by  a  study  of  the  present  teaching  population.  Material  for  this 
is  available  in  the  statistical  returns  gathered  by  the  Foundation  from  most  of  the 
twenty  thousand  teachers  in  the  state.  These  returns  show  the  actual  present  con- 
tribution of  all  the  normal  schools  together,  as  well  as  that  of  each  separate  insti- 
tution, both  as  to  quantity  and,  roughly,  as  to  quality  in  so  far  as  this  can  be  measured 
by  salary  levels.  The  latter  are  now  (1919)  somewhat  higher  than  in  1915  when  these 
data  were  gathered,  but  the  relative  conditions  are  probably  much  the  same. 

1.  Teachers  in  Rural  Schools 

Defining  "rural  teachers"  as  teachers  in  charge  of  more  than  three  grade  groups 
in  one  schoolroom,  there  are  approximately  ten  thousand  five  hundred  rural  teachers 
in  Missouri,2  Of  this  body  of  teachers  about  eight  thousand  three  hundred  replied  to 
the  enquiries  of  the  Foundation,  giving  the  important  facts  regarding  their  prepara- 
tion and  service.3 

The  general  level  of  training  beyond  the  elementary  school  among  these  teachers 
is  indicated  in  the  following  table : 

None       Less  than     Less  than    Less  than   Less  than         Four          Five  Six          Seven 

one  two  three          four  years         years  years         years 

year  years  years          years  or  more      or  more      or  more 

Men                    4                19                42                62                75                17  8  3  1 

Women             2              11              26              44              58              32             10  3  1 

Both  3  13  30  49  J53 28 9  3  1 

100% 

1  It  should  be  said  that  while  the  university  ratings  are  precise,  the  normal  school  ratings  were  based  upon  a  sim- 
ple inspection  of  the  total  record. 

-  The  number  of  "country"  teachers,  as  that  term  is  understood  by  the  state  department,  was  9990  in  1914-15.  As  the 
term  is  used  in  this  study,  "rural  teacher"  applies  to  any  teacher  in  charge  of  more  than  three  grade  groups  m 
one  schoolroom.  There  proved  to  be  434  of  these  among  the  replies  from  '  graded1'  schools,  and  they  were  added  to 
the  rural  group,  of  which  they  formed  about  five  per  cent.  If  9990  be  increased  proportionately,  we  arrive  at  10,515  as 
the  number  of  rural  school  positions  by  this  definition,  of  which  perhaps  one  per  cent  are  filled  by  colored  teachers. 
3  Data  from  rural  teachers  were  gathered  in  two  ways:  (1)  on  cards  mailed  to  nearly  ten  thousand  teachers  indi- 
vidually in  the  spring  of  1915.  Of  these  5083  were  returned.  (2)  On  blanks  filled  by  tneteachers  attending  the  county 
institutes  in  the  fall  of  1915  or  secured  from  them  by  the  county  superintendents.  These  furmshed  6045  replies  of 
which  1851  were  from  teachers  who  had  previously  written  cards,  and  may  be  reckoned  with  either  group.  Included 
in  the  above  is  a  group  of  434  graded  school  teachers  who  were  in  charge  of  more  than  three  grades  and  were  con- 


PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

Somewhat  less  than  two-fifths  have  a  complete  secondary  education  or  more;  less 
than  one-tenth  have  as  much  as  one  year's  training  beyond  this.  Half  of  the  entire 
number  and  three-fifths  of  the  men  have  from  nothing  at  all  up  to  a  fraction  over  two 
years  of  high  school  training.  The  men  teachers,  who  constitute  twenty-eight  per  cent 
of  the  total,  are  conspicuously  inferior  to  the  women  at  nearly  every  point. 

The  share  of  different  institutions  in  producing  the  situation  above  shown  is  readily 
determined.  Fewer  than  half — men,  forty-one  per  cent;  women,  fifty  per  cent — of  the 
rural  school  teachers  of  Missouri  report  attendance  at  any  of  the  state  normal  schools, 
altho  an  additional  ten  per  cent  claim  some  normal  school  experience  which  cannot  be 
definitely  assigned.  The  contributions  of  the  several  schools  take  the  following  order : 1 
Cape  Girardeau,  six  per  cent;  Maryville,  seven  per  cent;  Kirksville,  nine  per  cent; 
Springfield,  ten  per  cent;  and  Warrensburg,  fifteen  per  cent ;  total,  forty-seven  per  cent. 
Forty-three  per  cent  of  the  teachers  had  no  normal  school  training,  but  eight  per  cent 
had  passed  thru  high  school  training-classes,  and  three  per  cent  had  taken  some  col- 
legiate or  university  work.  The  remainder,  approximately  one- third  in  all,  had  high 
school  or  elementary  school  training  only.2  One  per  cent  gave  no  statement  of  training. 

The  duration  of  normal  school  attendance  on  the  part  of  rural  teachers  is  more 
significant  than  the  proportion  who  have  been  merely  enrolled.  Two-thirds  of  these 
have  attended  not  over  nine  months,  one-fifth  from  ten  to  eighteen  months,  and  the 
remainder  for  periods  up  to  six  years.  Over  one-half  of  the  entire  number  indicating 
normal  school  attendance  have  been  there  but  six  months  or  less,  one-third  but  three 
months  or  less  — usually  a  summer  session.  The  median  attendance  is  the  same  for 
both  men  and  women — six  months.  Inspection  of  this  group  with  reference  to  its 
total  schooling  shows  a  median,  in  the  case  of  men,  of  two  years  beyond  the  eighth 
grade,  and  in  the  case  of  women,  of  three  years;  the  median  attendance  for  the  group 
is  three  years.  We  are  dealing,  therefore,  with  a  set  of  teachers  whose  characteristic 
representative  has  attended  a  high  school  for  between  two  and  three  years,  and  has 
taken  six  months  of  farther  secondary  training  together  with  some  professional  courses 
at  a  normal  school. 

Tho  the  normal  school  training  is  thus  exceedingly  brief,  it  is  instructive  to  observe 
its  evident  influence  as  shown  in  the  scale  of  salaries  that  it  commands.  Eighty-five 
per  cent  of  those  who  have  attended  the  state  normal  schools  for  whatever  period 
are  receiving  more  than  forty  dollars  per  month,  as  compared  with  sixty-six  per 
cent  in  the  case  of  high  school  graduates  only,  and  fifty  per  cent  in  the  case  of  high 
school  non-graduates.  The  persistence  of  the  tradition  of  higher  salaries  for  men 
comes  to  light  in  the  fact  that  six  per  cent  more  men  than  women  receive  over  forty 

sidered  as  rural  teachers.  Altho  the  combined  groups  represent  8277  different  individuals  who  taught  in  the  rural 
schools  in  the  course  of  some  eight  or  ten  months,  some  of  these  were  the  successive  incumbents  of  the  same  posi- 
tions. To  maintain  the  representative  distribution,  therefore,  the  two  groups  have  been  considered  separately.  The 
facts  quoted  in  this  section  were  derived  from  the  second  set  of  returns,  and  are  for  the  first  half  of  the  school 
Fear  1916-16. 

1  The  several  normal  school  districts  contain  the  following  proportions  of  the  state's  rural  population ;  Cape  Girar- 
deau, 25  per  cent ;  Springfield,  21  per  cent;  Kirksville,  21  per  cent ;  Warrensburg,  18 per  cent;  Maryville,  15  per  cent. 
8  High  school  graduates,  8  per  cent;  non-graduates,  19  per  cent;  elementary  school  only,  4  per  cent. 


TEACHERS  IN  RURAL  SCHOOLS  368 

dollars  per  month,  altho  eleven  per  cent  more  women  than  men  have  had  training 
either  at  normal  schools  or  in  training  classes. 

The  influence  of  the  normal  schools  among  rural  teachers,  meagre  as  it  is  in  amount, 
is  further  weakened  by  conditions  of  legislation.  The  state  still  maintains  a  third 
grade  certificate  of  exceedingly  low  standard  available  thru  eight  successive  years  by 
repeated  examination.1  This  operates  to  postpone  normal  school  attendance  or  other 
training  to  the  last  possible  moment  or  shortly  before  the  candidate  is  "promoted19 
to  a  graded  school,  if  he  continues  to  teach  at  all.  Consequently,  instead  of  getting 
the  benefit  even  of  such  training  as  these  teachers  appear  to  have,  from  the  begin- 
ning of  their  service,  the  schools  reap  the  advantage  of  the  skill  that  is  acquired  only 
toward  the  end  of  each  teacher's  career.  This  fact  stands  out  when  one  examines  the 
list  of  inexperienced  teachers  holding  their  first  positions.  Among  the  teachers  re- 
porting for  1915-16,  twenty-four  per  cent  had  never  taught  before,  and  of  these 
fewer  than  one- third  had  ever  attended  a  normal  school,  the  proportion  falling  as 
low  as  twenty-eight  per  cent  and  twenty-five  per  cent  in  the  Kirksville  and  Cape 
Girardeau  districts.  In  other  words,  two-thirds,  and  in  the  two  districts  mentioned 
three-fourths,  of  the  new  rural  teachers  were  unprepared  workers  except  for  the  con- 
tribution of  the  high  school  training-classes.  These  little  institutions  have  been  strug- 
gling bravely  with  the  problem  in  spite  of  the  handicap  of  immaturity  in  their  pupils 
and  limited  facilities.  As  compared  with  eight  per  cent  in  the  entire  number  of  rural 
teachers  they  account  for  eighteen  per  cent  of  the  inexperienced  group,  contributing, 
as  extremes  among  the  five  districts,  thirty-one  per  cent  and  seven  per  cent  respec- 
tively to  the  Kirksville  and  Cape  Girardeau  districts  referred  to  above. 

It  may  be  noted  that  even  among  wholly  inexperienced  teachers,  the  individuals 
with  normal  school  training  show  that  they  can  immediately  command  relatively 
better  salaries.  Comparing  teachers  having  from  one  to  four  years  of  high  school 
education,  including  the  training-class  graduates,  with  those  having  the  correspond- 
ing amount  of  training,  all  or  part  of  which  has  been  in  normal  schools,  the  propor- 
tions receiving  over  forty  dollars  per  month  are  as  follows: 

One  year  Two  years  Three  years  Four  years  Five  years 

From  High  School  (90)a  13%  (88)    26%  (75)    36%          (356)    61% 

From  Normal  School          (40)     §8  (63)    52  (60)    60  (40)    73  (69)    77% 

Age  plays  some  part  here;  the  student  from  the  normal  school  is  in  general  an 
older  person  than  the  student  from  the  high  school.  The  proportions  nineteen  years 
of  age  or  less  in  the  two  series  were : 

One  year  Tico  years  Three  years  Four  y  eats          Five  years 

High  School  69%  79%8  68%  66% 

Normal  School  56  70  56  55  41% 

1  See  page  305,  note. 

2  The  figure  in  parenthesis  gives  the  number  of  cases. 

8  The  marked  drop  in  age  noticeable  in  the  two-year  group  in  each  series  may  be  referable  to  the  hold  of  the  two- 
year  high  school  idea  on  the  regular,  and  therefore  younger,  student. 


364  PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

Age  is  not  decisive,  however.  In  the  normal  school  group,  the  teachers  with  two 
years  of  training  receive  over  forty-five  dollars  nearly  as  frequently  as  the  four-year 
high  school  graduates,  yet  seventy  per  cent  of  them  are  nineteen  or  less,  while  only 
sixty-six  per  cent  of  the  latter  group  are  as  young. 


%,  Teachers  and  Supervisors  'in  Graded  Elementary  Schools 

Rural  teachers,  as  we  have  seen,  constitute  a  homogeneous  group.  Teachers  in 
graded  schools,  on  the  contrary,  are  subject  to  conditions  varying  usually  with  the 
size  of  the  town  or  city  in  which  they  work.  The  great  metropolitan  centres,  Kansas 
City  and  St.  Louis,,  require  separate  consideration;  the  state  normal  schools  have 
affected  these  districts  but  slightly,  claiming  at  Kansas  City  one-fifth  and  at  St. 
Louis  only  three  per  cent  of  the  elementary  teachers.  The  balance  of  the  state  con- 
tains only  three  cities  having  a  population  of  more  than  twenty-five  thousand.,  and 
exhibits  everywhere  very  similar  characteristics,  altho  a  few  of  the  larger  school  sys- 
tems have  been  considered  separately  in  certain  respects.1  It  is  these  towns  and  cities 
of  the  state  at  large  together  with  the  rural  districts,  rather  than  the  great  centres, 
that  the  state  normal  schools  have  served. 

a.  THE  STATE  AT  LARGE  (omitting  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City) 

Outside  of  the  two  large  cities,  there  were  for  our  purpose  in  Missouri  3650  teach- 
ing positions  in  graded  elementary  schools.2  Enquiries  directed  to  teachers  in  these 
positions  brought  replies  from  2334,  or  sixty -four  per  cent,  of  those  who  were  teach- 
ing in  the  spring  of  1915.  Additional  replies  in  the  fall,  including  some  from  second 
incumbents  of  the  same  positions,  increased  the  number  to  eighty- two  per  cenfc  of  the 
total,  but  the  statements  made  below  are  based  on  the  original  group  alone.  The  men 
among  them  numbered  seven  per  cent. 

CONDITIONS  OF  TRAINING 

Before  proceeding  to  show  the  extent  to  which  the  normal  schools  had  participated 
in  preparing  this  group  of  teachers,  a  general  statement  of  their  total  education  may 
be  of  interest  as  indicating  the  level  to  which  normal  school  activity  is  at  present  ad- 
justed. Grouping  teachers  and  principals3  together,  the  following  proportions  appear 
in  the  successive  degrees  of  training: 


1  St.  Joseph,  Springfield,  Joplin,  Hannibal,  Sedalia,  Webb  City,  Carthage,  and  Webster  Groves.  With  a  view  to  mak- 
ing this  group  representative  of  the  size  and  development  of  the  school  systems  rather  than  merely  of  the  size  of  the 
cities,  the  number  of  teachers  in  the  system  and  the  salary  of  the  superintendent  were  also  taken  into  account. 
Nevertheless,  all  but  the  two  last  named  are  among1  the  seven  largest  cities  after  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City. 

2  This  number  is  85.8  per  cent  of  the  estimated  number  of  such  teaching  positions.  The  remainder  are  divided 
among  positions  in  colored  schools,  teachers  of  more  than  three  grades  m  town  or  city  schools,  and  a  few  teachers 
in  both  graded  and  high  schools ;  these  were  not  considered  here, 

3  A  very  few  principals  in  the  largest  cities  do  supervisory  work  only ;  the  rest  manage  their  schools  as  head 
teachers  under  a  superintendent. 


TEACHERS  IN  GRADED  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 


365 


Less  than    Less  than    Less  than    Less  than 
one  two  three 

year  years  years 


Larger  Systems        2  8  14 

Rest  of  State  4  13  25 

Total  3  12  22 


s  than 
four 
tears 

Four 
to  five 
years 

Five 
years 
or  more 

Six 
years 
or  more 

Seven 
years 
or  more 

Eight 
years 
or  more 

23 

39 

38 

17 

6 

3 

37 

30 

33 

16 

6 

3 

33 

32 

35 

16 

6 

3 

100% 


One-sixth  of  these  teachers  possess  what  may  be  termed  a  standard  preparation 
for  their  work  —  two  years  of  training  beyond  a  high  school  course;  one-  third  are 
high  school  graduates  only,  or  in  some  cases  graduates  who  have  had  part  of  a  fifth 
year's  work  also;  while  another  third  are  less  than  graduates,  one-eighth  of  the  entire 
group  having  less  than  a  two  years'  education  beyond  the  elementary  school  in  which 
they  are  teaching.  Conditions  in  the  group  of  larger  systems  are  somewhat  better  than 
those  existing  In  the  remainder  of  the  state. 

Of  these  twenty-three  hundred  teachers  about  sixteen  hundred,  or  nearly  seven- 
tenths,  had  come  in  contact  with  normal  schools  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period,  and 
exactly  two-thirds  had  attended  the  state  normal  schools  of  Missouri.1  It  is  with  this 
latter  group  that  we  are  particularly  concerned  here. 

The  total  training  of  the  two-thirds  who  attended  the  Missouri  state  normal  schools 
contrasts  favorably  with  the  training  of  the  remaining  third,  as  one  would  expect  ; 
the  proportion  reporting  a  preparation  of  one  year  or  more  in  advance  of  high  school 
is  one-  third  larger,  while  those  with  less  than  a  high  school  education  are  relatively 
somewhat  fewer.  Teachers  with  seven  and  eight  years  of  training,  however,  are  rela- 
tively more  numerous  among  those  not  attending  the  normal  schools;  there  are  but 
few  of  these  all  told  —  six  per  cent  —  and  they  are  usually  residents  in  college  towns. 

The  individual  normal  schools  exhibit  wide  divergence  of  contribution  to  this 
graded  elementary  group.  The  numbers  and  proportions  are  as  follows  : 

KIRKSVILLE    WARRENSBURG    CAPE  GIRARDEAU    SPRINGFIELD     MARYVTLLE          Total 


Larger  Systems 
Men 
Women 
Pop.  of  Dist.2 

Rest  of  State 
Men 
Women 
Pop.  of  Dist.  s 

Total 

Men 
Women 


1 

17 


12 
206 


114 


34% 


3% 
3% 


55% 


11 


13 


15% 


12 

897 


19 
511 


34% 


34% 


17% 


207 


399 


2  8% 
"lS% 


10 


81 


91 
1465 


100% 
100% 

100% 
100% 

100% 


1  Other  training  represented  in  the  group  was  as  follows:  ten  per  cent  had  done  some  collegiate  work  at  a  college 

or  university;  thirteen  per  cent  had  done  four  years  of  high  school  work  only,  including  five  per  cent  who  had 

attended  high  school  teacher-training  classes;  six  per  cent  had  less  than  a  complete  high  school  education,  and  a 

few  had  special  training. 

*  Proportion  of  the  population  in  the  eight  larger  cities  contained  within  the  respective  normal  school  districts. 

3  Proportion  of  the  urban  population  only,  excluding  the  eight  cities,  contained  within  the  respective  normal  school 

districts 


366  PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

In  furnishing  teachers  for  the  graded  elementary  schools,  Warrensburg  heads  the 
list.  This  school  supplies  over  one-third  of  the  teachers  even  for  the  large  systems, 
altho  its  district  contains  but  nine  per  cent  of  their  population.  Part  of  this  success 
is  doubtless  due  to  convenient  location.  To  the  rest  of  the  state  Warrensburg  and 
Springfield  contribute  their  own  quotas  and  a  margin  for  the  other  districts. 

The  duration  of  normal  school  attendance  varies  extremely.  Approximately  one- 
fourth  report  attendance  for  a  single  term,  altho  three-fifths  have  attended  for  one 
year  or  more,  and  one-fourth  for  two  years  or  more.1  There  are  minor  inter-school 
variations  due  to  the  character  of  the  students.  Warrensburg  and  Springfield,  for 
example,  show  a  briefer  attendance  than  the  others,  probably  because  at  these  schools 
the  students  in  this  group  had  longer  high  school  training.  The  median  length  of 
attendance  is  the  same  at  each  school — three  terms  or  one  year,  except  at  Kirks ville 
and  Cape  Girardeau,  where  it  is  four  terms.2 

In  estimating  duration  of  normal  school  attendance  it  is  of  prime  importance  to 
distinguish  between  secondary  and  collegiate  attendance.  Single  years  or  even  single 
terms  of  collegiate  work  should  be  worth  more  professionally  than  longer  periods 
devoted  to  secondary  study.  This  distinction  may  readily  be  made  on  the  basis  of 
the  actual  number  of  terms  of  work  reported.  For  the  five  schools  together  these 
amount  to  5265  terms  of  normal  school  attendance,  of  which  sixty-one  per  cent  were 
taken  after  four  years  of  secondary  work  had  been  completed.3 

Warrensburg  and  Springfield  lead  the  other  schools  by  a  fair  percentage  in  the 
total,  and  the  preponderance  of  collegiate  work  among  their  students  employed  in 
the  larger  systems  again  shows  the  effect  of  longer  high  school  preparation.  The  same 
is  true  of  those  few  from  Cape  Girardeau  who  teach  in  the  larger  systems,  altho  the 
entire  group  who  studied  at  Cape  Girardeau  did  a  smaller  proportion  of  collegiate 
work  than  was  done  at  any  other  school. 

When  the  total  number  of  terms  of  collegiate  work  reported  is  apportioned  among 
the  five  schools,  Warrensburg  shows  two  and  one-half  times  the  amount  of  collegiate 
work  done  either  at  Kirks  ville  or  at  Cape  Girardeau,  and  Springfield  has  provided 
nearly  twice  as  much.4  If  the  average  amount  of  collegiate  work  per  student  be  con- 
sidered, Maryville  with  almost  four  terms  has  a  slight  advantage,  and  is  closely  fol- 
lowed by  KirksviUe,  which  has  much  the  highest  average  among  its  few  representa- 
tives in  the  larger  systems.5 

1  See  page  4S8. 

2  The  same  median  holds  good  of  those  who  have  four,  three,  two,  or  one  year  of  previous  high  school  prepara- 
tion. Among  those  with  less  than  one  year,  it  rises  to  six  terms  or  two  years  of  normal  school  attendance.  Reported 
high  school  preparation  before  coming:  to  the  normal  school  divides  almost  equally  in  the  group  as  a  whole  between 
those  who  had  four  years  of  such  training  (fifty-one  per  cent)  and  those  with  less.  Warrensburg  and  Springfield, 
with  fifty-six  and  fifty-seven  per  cent  of  high  school  graduates  respectively,  have  the  advantage  over  Cape  Girar- 
deau with  thirty-seven  per  cent,  Kirksville  with  forty-five  per  cent,  and  Maryville  with  forty-six  per  cent.  The  acces- 
sibility of  these  first  two  schools  to  the  larger  high  schools  partially  explains  this;  in  fact,  the  distribution  of  the 
teachers  themselves  is  indicative:  Springfield  and  Warrensburg  together,  owing  to  their  location,  furnish  nearly 
nine-tenths  of  the  Missouri  normal  school  product  reporting  from  the  eight  larger  systems,  as  compared  with  fifty- 
three  per  cent  of  the  teachers  elsewhere. 

3  See  page  488.          4  See  page  438.          &  See  page  439. 


TEACHERS  IN  GRADED  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS  367 

CONDITIONS  OF  REWARD 

Salary  conditions  among  the  state's  elementary  teachers  in  towns  and  cities1  afford 
no  reassuring  evidence  of  public  concern  for  the  teacher's  preparation.  Out  of  the  en- 
tire group,  which  includes  teachers  in  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  existing  positions,  those 
who  possessed  what  may  at  present  be  termed  a  good  preparation  for  their  work — 
two  collegiate  years  —  and  who  received  as  much  as  $750  annually,  numbered  four- 
teen men  and  eleven  women,  or  one  per  cent  of  the  total.  Four  times  as  many  others 
received  as  much  money  but  had  inferior  training.  The  prevailing — median — annual 
salary  for  all,  trained  and  untrained  alike,  was  $450,  while  more  than  one-fifth  re- 
ceived $360  or  less. 

The  analysis  of  the  relation  between  salary  and  training  in  this  group  of  teachers 
is  not  advantageous  to  the  normal  schools.  Outside  of  the  two  great  cities,  sixty  per 
cent  of  all  the  graded  elementary  school  teachers  who  never  attended  normal  schools 
received  $450  or  more,  while  but  fifty-five  per  cent  of  the  normal  school  group  re- 
ceived as  much;  ten  per  cent  of  the  non-normal  school  group  earned  $750  or  more, 
while  but  three  per  cent  of  those  who  had  attended  normal  schools  did  as  well.  When 
compared  with  their  normal  school  colleagues  in  the  eight  larger  systems  taken  alone, 
nearly  twice  as  many  of  the  teachers  in  the  same  systems,  but  without  any  normal 
school  training,  received  $550  or  over  (49  per  cent  —  £7  per  cent) ;  and  over  three 
times  as  many  received  $750  or  over  (27  per  cent — 8  per  cent). 

Elsewhere  in  the  state  the  conditions  were  not  so  unfavorable,  but  altho  the  normal 
trained  teachers  had  slightly  fewer  of  the  very  low-paid  positions — ten  as  compared 
with  thirteen  per  cent  below  $350 — the  teachers  without  normal  training  outdid 
them  at  nearly  every  other  point  in  the  comparison.  As  we  have  seen,  the  total  train- 
ing of  the  normal  school  group  is  somewhat  longer,  and  presumably  much  better  for 
the  purpose,  than  the  preparation  of  the  others,  yet  they  receive  consistently  lower 
salaries. 

If  the  institutional  grouping  be  dropped,  and  account  be  taken  only  of  the  total 
amount  of  schooling,  the  situation  just  described  is  still  apparent.  In  the  small  cities 
and  towns  teachers  with  six  or  more  years  of  training  above  the  elementary  school 
do  indeed  draw  higher  salaries  than  those  with  less — twenty-two  per  cent  as  against 
ten  per  cent  among  teachers  receiving  $550  or  more.  But  in  the  eight  larger  systems, 
where  attendants  of  normal  schools  fared  so  poorly,  thirty-two  per  cent  of  all  teachers 
with  six  or  more  years  of  training,  regardless  of  institution  received  $550  or  more 
as  compared  with  thirty-eight  per  cent  of  the  teachers  with  less  training  who  received 
that  salary. 

It  is  evident  from  all  the  above  figures  that  recognition  of  the  value  of  the  training 
which  the  normal  schools  offer  is  exceedingly  embryonic  in  the  minds  of  those  who 
determine  salaries.  One  would  like  to  be  able  to  show  that  the  situation  is  only  ap- 
parent and  temporary,  on  the  ground  that  the  development  of  professional  training 

1  Exclusive  of  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City. 


368  PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

is  still  too  recent  to  dominate  the  age  curve  of  the  whole  group.  This  is  partly  true, 
for  there  appears,  especially  in  the  larger  systems9  where  those  who  attend  normal 
schools  are  noticeably  fewer1  and  where  salaries  are  larger.,  a  long  line  of  older  teachers 
with  little  or  no  professional  training.2  These  teachers  have  displayed  the  qualities 
hitherto  regarded  as  desirable  by  their  respective  school  boards,  and  have  received 
their  promotions  largely  on  the  basis  of  prolonged  tenure — a  consideration  against 
which  the  best  of  training  makes  little  headway. 

But  the  consolations  of  this  argument  fail  when  it  appears  that  the  members  of 
the  normal  school  group,  even  age  for  age,  in  spite  of  distinctly  longer  training,  are 
not  receiving  as  high  salaries  as  their  colleagues  who  have  not  attended  the  normal 
schools.  In  the  larger  systems  thirty-seven  per  cent  of  the  normal  trained  teachers 
from  ages  twenty-one  to  twenty-five,  inclusive,  receive  more  than  the  median  salary, 
$450,  as  compared  with  fifty  per  cent  of  the  others.  Yet  only  forty-five  per  cent  of 
the  latter  have  five  years  or  more  of  training,  while  sixty  per  cent  of  the  normal  school 
group  have  such  training.  In  the  twenty-six  to  thirty  age  group,  thirty  per  cent  of 
those  from  the  normal  schools  receive  more  than  the  median,  $540,  while  sixty  per 
cent  of  the  others  receive  more,  altho  only  half  as  many  of  the  latter  have  five  years 
or  more  of  training.  One- third  of  the  normal  trained  teachers  over  thirty  years  of 
age  receive  $600  or  more,  as  compared  with  three-fourths  of  the  others  over  that  age. 
The  median  salary  for  teachers  above  thirty  is  $555  if  they  come  from  the  normal 
schools,  but  $735  if  they  do  not. 

It  is  plain  that  the  financially  better  elementary  school  positions  are  not  open  to 
the  normal  school  product.  The  cities  with  the  higher  salary  schedules  are  taking 
persons  with  but  four  years  of  schooling,  usually  directly  from  the  local  high  schools, 
and  starting  them  in  under  the  supervision  of  experienced  principals.  In  fact,  it  is 
probable  that  a  large  amount  even  of  that  normal  school  attendance  which  is  re- 
corded in  this  group  consists  of  brief  sessions  taken  ab  intervals  after  considerable 
experience  has  been  acquired,  instead  of  anything  in  the  nature  of  systematic  pro- 
fessional preparation  for  the  position.  The  reasons  for  this  practice  will  be  touched 
upon  later  in  summarizing  the  general  situation.3 

b.  ST.  Louis  AND  KANSAS  CITY 

The  returns  secured  from  elementary  teachers  in  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  were 
for  the  first  half  of  the  school  year  1915-16.  Positions  in  St.  Louis  at  this  time 
numbered  1789,  and  teachers  in  eighty-seven  per  cent  of  them  replied  to  the  Founda- 
tion's enquiries.  In  Kansas  City  there  were  779  positions,  and  ninety-five  per  cent  of 
them  were  represented  by  answers.  Men  constituted  less  than  two  per  cent  of  the 

1  Forty-four  per  cent  of  the  teachers  In  the  larger  systems  never  attended  a  state  normal  school,  as  compared  with 

thirty  per  cent  in  the  rest  of  the  state. 

*  Of  those  in  the  larger  systems  never  having  attended  normal  schools,  forty-two  per  cent  are  over  thirty  years  of 

age,  while  but  twenty-nine  per  cent  of  the  normal  school  group  are  as  old. 

3  See  page  S80. 


TEACHERS  IN  GRADED  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS  369 

group  at  St.  Louis,  and  about  four  per  cent  at  Kansas  City.  Three-fifths  of  the  men 
at  St.  Louis  and  all  of  those  at  Kansas  City  replied. 

The  reported  secondary  and  higher  schooling  of  the  elementary  teachers  in  the 
two  cities  gave  the  following  proportions: 

Less  than    Less  than  Less  than     Less  than    Four         Five  Six  Seven          Eight 

one  two  three  four         to  five       years        years  years          years 

year  years         years  years        years     or  more     or  more       or  more     -or  more 

%  %  %  %  %  %  %  %  % 

St.  Louis  4  II  27  32  11  5T  41  7  3 

Kansas  City  3  8  15  S3  34  43  23  7  3 

100% 

According  to  these  figures,  St.  Louis  has  the  advantage  of  Kansas  City  in  that  nearly 
twice  as  large  a  proportion  of  elementary  teachers  possess  six  years  or  more  of  training 
above  the  elementary  school,  altho  this  distinction  is  offset,  in  part  at  least,  by  the 
fact  that  at  St.  Louis  a  much  larger  proportion  than  at  Kansas  City  have  had  less 
than  a  high  school  education.  While  carrying  along  this  large  number — nearly  one- 
third — who  with  scarcely  any  training  had  nevertheless  fitted  themselves  thru  experi- 
ence to  do  the  work  required  of  them,  St.  Louis  has  made  a  steady  and  notable  cam- 
paign for  preparation  of  a  truly  professional  character;  Kansas  City,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  secured  at  least  a  high  school  training  in  a  greater  majority  of  cases,  but 
has  been  less  concerned  with  higher  professional  preparation.  The  age  median  is  the 
same  in  both  cities — thirty-one. 

Of  the  St.  Louis  elementary  teachers,  seventy- two  per  cent  report  attendance  at 
Harris  Teachers  College,  which  is  the  local  city  training  school ;  and  an  additional 
seven  per  cent  attended  the  St.  Louis  Kindergarten  Training  School.  Slightly  fewer 
than  three  per  cent  had  attended  state  normal  schools. 

The  duration  of  attendance  at  these  institutions  varied  widely.  Nearly  half  of  those 
from  Harris  Teachers  College  had  taken  two  or  more  years  of  work  in  advance  of 
high  school  graduation;  this  was  true  of  about  one-third  of  those  from  the  St.  Louis 
Kindergarten,  and  of  one-seventh  only  of  those  from  state  schools.  One-fourth  of  those 
from  Harris  Teachers  College  had  done  less  than  two  years'  work  beyond  high  school. 
All  the  rest  had  combined  varying  amounts  of  professional  work  with  partial  high 
school  courses. 

The  distribution  of  salaries  in  St.  Louis  in  1915-16  was  apparently  not  favorable 
to  the  normal  school  product.  Considering  the  teachers  from  all  these  schools  in  one 
group,  and  omitting  such  as  hold  part-time  appointments,  only  twenty-four  per  cent 
of  their  number  were  receiving  more  than  $1030,  as  compared  with  forty-three  per 
cent  of  those  who  had  attended  none  of  these  training  schools.  And  this  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  over  half  of  the  former  had  had  six  years  of  secondary  and  higher  training, 
and  nearly  three-fourths  had  had  five  years  or  more,  while  of  the  latter  group  that  had 
not  attended  normal  schools  less  than  one-fourth  had  had  five  years,  and  one-sixth 
only  had  had  six  years  of  training. 


370 


PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 


The  reason  for  this  situation  is  clear.  The  non-training  school  group  is  relatively 
small  —  eighteen  per  cent  only  of  the  total  number  of  teachers.  It  consists  of  a  few 
with  good  training  of  standard  character  received  elsewhere  than  in  the  local  and 
state  schools^  and  a  large  proportion  whose  training  is  very  brief.  The  first  are  fairly 
young;  thirty-one  years  is  the  median  age  of  those  with  six  or  more  years  of  train- 
ing above  the  elementary  school,  and  they  are  receiving  relatively  high  salaries  as 
teachers  of  special  subjects  not  hitherto  offered  at  the  training  schools  in  question. 
Those  with  brief  training  are  older;  forty-two  years  is  the  median  age  for  teachers  in 
this  class  with  less  than  four  years  of  secondary  schooling,  and  these  are  receiving 
relatively  high  salaries  because  of  their  senior  status  as  teachers.  It  is  evident,  there- 
fore, that  the  discrimination  against  the  local  normal  school  training  is  only  ap- 
parent; as  teachers  so  trained  attain  longer  experience,  and  as  the  schools  themselves 
develop  their  special  departments,  the  higher  salaries  will  presumably  become  avail- 
able in  greater  proportion, 

At  Kansas  City  all  local  and  state  agencies  together  have  trained  but  forty-one 
per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  elementary  teachers.  Training  courses  in  Kansas  City 
are  reported  by  twenty- two  per  cent  and  attendance  at  state  schools  by  nineteen  per 
cent.1  Eighty-seven  individuals,  or  twelve  per  cent  of  the  total  number,  reported  two 
years  or  more  of  higher  professional  training  in  these  Missouri  schools,  following 
four  years  of  secondary  work.  This  is  but  slightly  over  half  of  the  whole  number 
credited  with  such  training.  Almost  one-third  of  the  remainder  attended  school  else- 
where in  Missouri,  chiefly  at  the  university,  and  two-thirds  came  from  abroad,  well 
distributed  over  twelve  states,  of  which  Kansas  sent  the  most. 

The  comparative  salary  situation  in  1915-16  at  Kansas  City  was  the  same  as  that 
at  St.  Louis,  but  apparently  requires  a  less  favorable  explanation.  With  part-time 
kindergarten  teachers  omitted,  the  group  in  Kansas  City  that  had  never  attended 
either  city  or  state  normal  schools  was  very  large — sixty-four  per  cent  of  the  total, 
and  age  for  age  outranked  the  normal  school  representatives  in  salary  as  follows: 


20  or  less 

21-35 

26-30 

31-35 

36-40 

41-45 

46  or  over 


Receiving 

over  $600 

over    650 

over    900 

over    950 

1000  or  more 
1000  or  more 
1000  or  more 


Of  those  attending  local 
or  Missouri  State  Normal  Schools 


Of  the  Remainder 


53  of 

52  of 

54  of 

54  of 
70  of 
81  of 
81  of 


30 
69 


33 

21 


67  of 
93  of 
65  of 
73  of 
83  of 
80  of 
95  of 


88 
56 
65 

54 
60 


Total  over  $750 

Having  five  or  more  years  of  training 
Having  six  or  more  years  of  training 


57  of  233 
63 


84  of  411 


10 


In  every  age  group  but  one  the  reward  of  the  normal  school  product  falls  behind 

1  Kirksville,  two  per  cent;  Warrensburg,  fifteen  per  cent;  Springfield,  one  per  cent;  and  Maryville,  one  per  cent. 


TEACHERS  IN  GRADED  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS  871 

that  of  teachers  prepared  elsewhere,  or?  most  frequently,  not  at  all.  Yet  the  group  from 
the  normal  schools  is  overwhelmingly  superior  in  amount  of  training ;  the  proportion 
with  six  or  more  years  of  secondary  and  higher  training  is  over  three  times  as  great 
as  it  is  among  the  others.  To  be  sure  the  age  of  these  well-trained  teachers  is  low — 
twenty-seven  years  in  the  group  as  a  whole  as  compared  with  a  general  age  median 
of  thirty-one,  and  twenty-four  in  the  normal  school  contingent  as  compared  with 
thirty-five  among  those  few  with  as  much  training  from  other  sources ;  but  that  fails  to 
account  for  the  marked  contrast  within  identical  age  groups  where  age  arid  teaching 
experience  run  nearly  parallel.  The  attendants  at  the  state  schools  are  in  somewhat 
better  case  than  those  from  local  normal  and  kindergarten  schools,  sharing  the  better 
salaries  on  an  almost  even  basis  with  the  untrained  whom  they  would  be  expected  to 
outdo. 

Whatever  be  the  cause,  these  students,  in  spite  of  their  longer  preparation,  simply 
do  not  attain  the  positions  that  the  school  authorities  most  largely  reward.  This  may 
be  because  the  meagre  type  of  training  is  not  sufficiently  convincing,  or  because  con- 
ditions in  the  school  service  are  such  as  to  reward  routine  conformity,  and  perfunc- 
tory rather  than  intelligent  teaching.  The  first  is  certainly  the  case  to  a  considerable 
degree,  if  the  findings  of  this  study  may  be  trusted,  and  the  second  is  by  no  means 
impossible  in  a  system  that  has  for  so  long  employed  teachers  with  a  minimum  of 
education. 

Principals  of  elementary  schools  in  large  cities  are  of  course  school  officers  of  the 
first  importance.  The  enquiries  of  the  Foundation  elicited  response  from  eighty-four 
per  cent  of  those  at  St.  Louis  and  from  a  similar  proportion  at  Kansas  City.  The 
status  of  formal  preparation  among  these  men  and  women  exhibits  comparative  feat- 
ures not  unlike  those  discovered  among  the  teachers  over  whom  they  preside. 

Less  than  Less  than  Less  than  Leys  than    Four       Five        Six        Seven      Eight        Total 
one  two  three         four       to  five     years       years       years       years      Number- 

year          years          years        years       years  or  more    or  more  or  more   or  more 

%  %  %  %  %  %  %  %  % 

St.  Louis 

Men  4  6  16  20  1%  68          59  43          33  49 

Women  7  U  46  53  18          29         21  44-  $8 

i     .  r._.  ...  IL r    j 

100% 
Kansas  City 

Men  5  5  16  79          47  32          21  19 

Women  S  IS  25  41  41          IB  9  3  32 

^        ..n       '      _._  .    j 

100% 

St.  Louis  principals  include  a  larger  proportion  with  advanced  professional  training 
than  do  those  of  Kansas  City;  the  latter,  on  the  other  hand,  show  fewer  whose  quali- 
fications appear  to  depend  so  wholly  upon  experience. 

At  St.  Louis  two-thirds  of  the  principals  are  men ;  at  Kansas  City  more  than  half 
are  women.  Even  so,  the  state  and  local  normal  schools  are  represented  to  almost 


372  PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

exactly  the  same  extent  in  each  group — forty  and  forty-one  per  cent.  At  St.  Louis 
only  six  out  of  twenty-eight  women  principals  report  as  much  as  two  years  of  colle- 
giate training,  but  all  except  six  went  to  a  normal  school;  at  Kansas  City  three  out 
of  thirty- two  women  principals  had  as  much  training,  and  only  nine  of  the  number 
had  attended  a  state  or  local  normal  school.  Two-thirds  of  the  men  principals,  how- 
ever, at  Kansas  City  had  attended  normal  schools  as  compared  with  one-fifth  only  in 
St.  Louis. 

Salaries  show  the  customary  lack  of  respect  for  normal  school  training,  at  least 
among  the  women.  At  Kansas  City  men  from  normal  schools  receive  as  much  as  those 
from  outside — $£000.  At  St.  Louis  ten  years'  difference  in  ages — thirty-eight  to 
forty-eight — is  doubtless  a  partial  reason  for  the  forty  outsiders  receiving  $3000  as 
compared  with  $2500  that  is  paid  the  nine  normal  school  representatives.  Another 
and  sufficient  explanation  is  that  the  former  are  much  more  frequently  college  gradu- 
ates. The  outside  group  of  women  at  Kansas  City  receive  $1750  as  compared  with 
$1700  paid  to  their  normal  school  colleagues;  and  at  St.  Louis  the  six  women  not 
from  normal  schools?  with  an  age  median  of  fifty-three  years,  receive  $S425,  while  the 
twenty- two  women  in  the  normal  school  group,  with  an  age  median  of  forty-eight, 
receive  only  $1560.  Only  one  of  the  six  reported  as  much  as  one  year  of  collegiate 
training,  while  twelve  of  the  twenty-two  had  one  year,  including  five  who  had  two 
years  of  such  training. 


3.  Teachers  and  Supervisors  in  High  Schools 

High  schools  in  Missouri  may  be  arranged  in  three  groups:  Fully  state  approved 
four-year  schools,  termed  Jirst  class  high  schools ;  partially  approved  three-year  and 
two-year  schools,  termed  second  and.  third  class  high  schools;  and  unclassified  schools, 
some  of  which  are  nevertheless  allowed  a  certain  number  of  approved  credits.  These 
classes  constitute  a  series  of  progressive  stages  in  the  development  of  a  high  school, 
and  imply  to  a  degree  a  similar  progress  in  the  qualifications,  salary,  and  prestige 
of  the  persons  who  teach  in  them.  That  is  to  say,  the  typical  third  class  school  is 
not  merely  half  of  a  first  class  school  equally  well  managed  and  equipped,  but  is  usu- 
ally inferior  in  personnel,  equipment,  and  organization,  even  tho  it  satisfies  the  mini- 
mum requirement  of  the  state  department  of  education. 

a.  THE  STATE  AT  LA&GE 

In  1915  there  were  eleven  hundred  sixty-four l  teaching  positions  in  classified  high 
schools  outside  of  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City,  and  ninety -two  per  cent  of  these  were 
represented  in  the  replies  filed  for  the  enquiry.  Fifty-nine  replies  from  teachers  in 

1  This  number  Includes  the  principals  in  towns  having  superintendents.  In  towns  not  so  provided  the  principals  of 
the  high  schools  have  been  taken  to  represent  the  superintendents  and  will  be  studied  in  a  latei  section.  They 
number  321,  of  whom  246,  or  77  per  cent,  responded  to  the  enquiries  of  the  Foundation.  (See  page  376.) 


TEACHERS  IN  SCHOOLS  373 

unclassified  schools  indicated  some  fourteen  more  positions  than  were  known  to  the 
state  department.  With  such  full  representation,  the  information  as  to  high  school 
teachers  is  probably  as  accurate  as  complete  returns  would  make  it. 

Few  high  school  teachers  report  less  than  a  complete  secondary  course,  and  of  these 
over  half  had  attended  a  normal  school.  About  nine-tenths  of  the  teachers  in  first 
class  schools  had  five  or  more  years'*  preparation ;  close  to  one-half  reported  the  full 
eight  years  of  a  well-trained  instructor.  The  stages  of  training  beyond  the  elementary 
school  among  teachers  in  all  types  of  high  school  in  the  state  at  large  appear  in  the 
following  table: 

Less  than  Four  to  Five  Six  Seven  Eight  Nine        Total 

four  five  years  years*  years  years  years 

years  years  or  more  or  more  or  more  or  more  or  more 
First  Class 

State  at  large                       %  %  %  %  %  %  % 

Men                5  6  89  75  59  45  17           212 

Women           5  6  89  78  69  44  13           626 

Both               5  6  89  77  59  45  14           838 


100% 
Kansas  City 

Men  14  5  81  T4  69  56  34>  109 

Women         11  15  7$  63  55  48  18  130 

Both  IS  11  77  68  61  51  25  239 


100% 
St.  Louis 

Men  5  4  91  90  86  73  41  172 

Women         11  3  86  81  70  62  24  157 

Both  8  3  89  86  78  68  33  329 


100% 

Second  and  Third  Class 
State  at  large 

Men  17  25  58  47  34  19  3  59 

Women  9  11  80  67  36  20  4  177 

Both  11  15  74  62  35  19  4  236 


100% 
State  at  large 


Men  36  18  46  23  9  5  22 

Women  8  22  70  51  32  14  37 

Both  19  20  61  41  24  10  59 


100%  * 

The  amount  of  training  falls  off  rapidly  in  the  lower  classes  of  schools,  and  the 
training  of  the  men,  which  in  first  class  schools  was  slightly  better  than  that  of  the 
women,  becomes  markedly  inferior  in  unclassified  schools. 

The  crediting  of  training  to  different  institutions,,  or  types  of  institutions,  is  com- 
plicated by  the  considerable  amount  of  transfer  that  has  taken  place,  especially  be- 
tween the  normal  schools  and  the  university.  Twenty-eight  per  cent  of  all  the  teachers 
in  classified  high  schools  have  done  collegiate  work  both  in  the  Missouri  state  normal 
schools  and  in  colleges  or  universities,  or  in  a  few  cases  in  other  normal  schools,  either 
within  or  outside  of  the  state.  Seventeen  per  cent,  or  one- sixth,  did  their  collegiate 


874  PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

work  in  a  Missouri  state  normal  school  only,  while  forty-seven  per  cent,1  or  nearly 
one- half,  did  all  of  it  elsewhere.  Eight  per  cent  reported  no  collegiate  work ;  slightly 
over  one-half  of  these  had  done  their  secondary  work  at  a  Missouri  state  normal 
school.  All  told,  fifty-two  per  cent1  of  the  teachers  in  classified  high  schools  had  at 
some  time  attended  one  of  the  state  normal  schools.  Eleven  per  cent  did  all  of  their 
work  at  the  state  university,  while  more  than  one-third  attended  there. 

The  statements  just  made  need  immediate  qualification,  however,  in  view  of  the 
wide  disparity  between  the  two  types  of  institution  as  to  the  actual  amount  of  work 
done  by  the  students  in  each.  It  is  well  also  to  consider  the  fully  representative  first 
class  schools  by  themselves  in  such  a  matter.  In  this  group  those  who  went  only  to 
college  or  university  numbered  more  than  half,2  and  two-thirds  of  them  had  eight 
full  years  of  training,  while  those  prepared  only  by  the  normal  schools  numbered  but 
one-eighth,  and  three-fourths  of  them  had  but  six  years'  schooling  altogether.  A  com- 
bination group  that  attended  both  normal  school  and  college  constituted  twenty- 
eight  per  cent,  and  one-third  only  had  completed  eight  years  of  work.  Six  per  cent  had 
done  no  collegiate  work.  It  will  be  apparent,  therefore,  that  the  actual  weight  of 
influence  of  the  normal  schools,  as  measured  in  school  attendance,  is  relatively  small 
among  first  class  high  schools,  altho  it  is  by  no  means  negligible.3 

Among  the  second  and  third  class  schools  the  normal  school,  college,  and  com- 
bined groups  above  distinguished  are  numerically  more  nearly  equal,  with  the  nor- 
mal school  group  somewhat  ahead,  but  here  again  the  balance  is  considerably  in  favor 
of  the  college  group  owing  to  longer  attendance  by  its  representatives.4 

The  numerical  contribution  of  the  different  normal  schools  to  the  high  school 
staff  of  the  state  is  extremely  unequal  and  somewhat  unexpected,  as  the  two  schools 
that  have  long  laid  the  greatest  apparent  emphasis  on  their  facilities  for  preparing 
high  school  teachers  have  proportionately  fewer  in  actual  service  than  the  others. 
Warrensburg  heads  the  list,  having  enrolled  over  two-fifths  of  all  the  teachers  in 
first  class  high  schools  who  attended  normal  schools  at  all.5  Together  with  Spring- 
field, it  accounts  for  fifty-seven  per  cent  of  these  teachers,  while  Kirksville  and  Cape 
Girardeau,  with  twenty-seven  and  eleven  per  cent  respectively,  contribute  thirty- 
eight  per  cent.  Maryville's  share  is  comparatively  slight — five  per  cent.6 

1  Includes  three  per  cent  who  did  secondary  work  at  a  normal  school  but  collegiate  work  elsewhere. 

2  See  page  489. 

3  The  proportion  of  degrees  shows  the  same  general  situation.  One-fourth  of  the  teachers  hold  only  the  two-year 
normal  school  degree,  and  three  per  cent,  the  four-year  normal  school  degree.  From  universities  and  colleges  forty- 
eight  per  cent  hold  four-year  degrees,  including  four  per  cent  with  the  master's  degree. 

4  In  second  and  third  class  schools,  two-fifths  hold  the  two-year  normal  school  degree,  three  per  cent  the  four-year 
normal  school  degree,  while  twenty-two  per  cent  have  four-year  degrees  from  colleges  or  universities. 

5  See  page  439. 

6  The  median  representative  of  each  school  has  a  total  preparation  of  six  years  beyond  the  elementary  school.  At 
Springfield,  Kirksville,  and  Maryville  nearly  half  had  more  than  six  years;  at  Warrensburg  this  proportion  is  three- 
eighths,  and  at  Cape  Girardeau  it  drops  to  one-fifth.  In  most  cases,  of  course,  those  who  secured  prolonged  training 
received  the  latter  part  of  it  at  other  institutions  than  normal  schools.  Nearly  four-fifths  of  the  group  attending 
normal  schools  have  attended  summer  sessions,  with  a  median  of  three  sessions  each,  and  about  one-half  have  taken 
four  years  of  high  school  work  before  attending  a  normal  school.  Among  first  class  schools  this  latter  character- 
istic varies  from  three-fifths  at  Springfield  to  one-third  at  Cape  Girardeau. 


TEACHERS  IN  HIGH  SCHOOLS  375 

The  usual — median — period  of  normal  school  attendance  on  the  part  of  teachers 
in  high  schools  of  all  classes  was  two  years  for  women  and  three  years  for  men.  Kirks- 
ville  shows  four  years  for  men  in  first  class  schools.  About  one- sixth  of  the  teachers 
in  first  class  schools  who  attended  normal  schools  at  all,  attended  for  one  or  two  terms 
only,  one-third  for  less  than  two  years,  and  one-fourth  for  four  years  or  longer.  These 
periods  are  for  total  attendance  including  secondary  work. 

The  relative  salary  situation  of  the  normal  school  representatives  in  high  schools 
is  rather  better  than  one  would  expect,  considering  the  disparity  in  amount  of  train- 
ing between  themselves  and  the  college  contingent.  The  men  of  the  group  among 
first  class  schools  receive  a  median  of  $81 01  annually  as  compared  with  $850  for  all 
male  high  school  teachers  in  such  schools  and  $900  for  all  those  who  had  attended 
a  college  or  university  but  not  a  normal  school.  The  thirty  men  who  attended  only 
normal  schools  received  $700,  while  twenty-five  who  attended  both  a  normal  school 
and  the  state  university  received  $810,  and  eighteen  who  attended  only  the  state 
university  received  $875. 

The  median  salary  of  all  women  teaching  in  first  class  high  schools  was  $630, 
and  the  women  who  had  attended  normal  schools  received  the  same.2  Those  from  the 
state  university  without  normal  school  attendance  received  $675,  as  did  those  who  had 
attended  other  schools.  The  ninety  women  trained  only  in  the  normal  schools  received 
a  median  of  $585,  while  those  from  the  university  only,  or  who  had  attended  both, 
received  the  general  median  of  $630.  Women  from  the  normal  school  group  with 
seven  or  more  years'*  training  received  $675,  as  did  those  from  the  university  group. 

b.  HIGH  SCHOOL  TEACHEIIS  IN  KANSAS  CITY  AND  ST.  Louis 

The  replies  to  the  Foundation's  enquiries  from  high  school  teachers  in  Kansas 
City  and  St.  Louis  numbered  ninety-eight  and  ninety-six  per  cent  respectively  out 
of  possible  totals  of  two  hundred  forty-five  and  three  hundred  forty- three. 

In  Kansas  City  the  general  level  of  training  of  high  school  teachers  is  somewhat, 
tho  not  greatly,  above  that  prevailing  among  first  class  high  schools  in  the  remainder 
of  the  state.3  At  the  same  time  the  proportion  of  teachers  with  less  than  four  years 
of  preparation  above  the  elementary  school  is  more  than  double.  This  is  doubtless 
due  to  a  system  of  more  permanent  tenure  whereby  a  teacher  in  a  large  city  system, 
once  established,  is  likely  to  stay  without  obligations  for  further  preparation,  whereas 
in  small  cities  the  freer  conditions  either  improve  or  eliminate  him,  altho  the  maxi- 
mum standard  may  not  be  so  high.  The  same  condition  appears  to  a  less  extent  in 
St.  Louis,  Those  in  Kansas  City  who  have  eight  years  of  training  constitute  fifty-one 
per  cent,  as  compared  with  forty-five  per  cent  in  the  state  at  large,  and  sixty-eight 

1  This  was  likewise  the  median  for  men  from  Kirksville.  Those  from  Warrensburg  and  Springrfield  received  $900, 
those  from  Cape  Girardeau,  $765,  and  those  from  Maryville  (5)T  $720. 

2  The  median  among  women  teachers  from  Springfield  was  $675;  from  Maryville,  $585,*  elsewhere  it  agreed  with 
the  common  figure. 

3  See  page  373. 


876  PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

per  cent  In  St.  Louis.  In  the  total  number  with  as  much  as  five  or  six  years9  prepa- 
ration, Kansas  City  actually  falls  about  ten  per  cent  behind  the  remainder  of  the  state, 
tho  this  Is  partly  offset  by  those  who  have  done  graduate  work.  The  distribution  is 
that  of  a  city  that  has  recently  raised  its  standards,  but  for  new  appointees  only. 

In  St.  Louis  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  high  school  teachers  show  a  complete 
collegiate  training,  and  half  as  many  have  done  advanced  study.1 2 

The  contribution  of  the  state  normal  schools  to  the  high  school  staffs  of  Kansas 
City  Is  slight — -thirteen  per  cent.3  Seventeen  per  cent  had  attended  the  state  uni- 
versity. Here  also  there  was  much  transfer  from  one  institution  to  another;  fewer  than 
half  of  these  had  done  their  collegiate  work  only  at  the  university.  Three  per  cent 
had  attended  other  Missouri  institutions. 

In  St.  Louis  three  high  school  teachers  had  at  some  time  attended  Missouri  state 
normal  schools,  but  had  received  most  of  their  training  elsewhere.  Harris  Teachers 
College  had  enrolled  thirty -six,  or  eleven  per  cent,  for  short  periods,  but  only  six  had 
attended  nowhere  else.  One-fourth  of  all  the  teachers  had  attended  other  Missouri 
institutions,  including  six  per  cent  who  went  to  the  University  of  Missouri. 

Altho  the  number  in  the  group  is  small  (thirteen),  it  may  be  of  interest  to  observe 
that  at  Kansas  City  the  median  individual  in  the  group  of  women  teachers  partly 
trained  at  normal  schools  received  $1450  as  compared  with  $1200,  the  median  salary  of 
all  other  women  teachers.  At  St.  Louis,  likewise,  the  median  individual  among  thirty- 
three  women  partly  trained  at  normal  schools  and  Harris  Teachers  College  received 
S15SO,  as  compared  with  $1360,  the  median  salary  of  other  women  teachers.  Other 
factors  than  mere  attendance  at  these  schools — often  very  brief — probably  operated 
to  produce  this  result. 

4.  City  and  Town  Superintendents4' 

There  were  estimated  to  be  five  hundred  thirty-eight  positions  for  white  superin- 
tendents or  head  teachers  in  Missouri  in  1915.  The  holders  of  eighty-three  per  cent 
of  these  replied  to  the  enquiries  Issued  by  the  Foundation.  Of  superintendents  in 

1  In  Kansas  City  thirty  per  cent  of  the  men  and  over  half  of  the  women  teachers  lack  degrees  of  any  kind.  In  St. 
Louis  these  fig-Tires  are  sixteen  and  thirty-seven  per  cent  respectively.  Normal  school  degrees  numbered  six  per 
cent  in  Kansas  City  and  two  per  cent  in  St.  Louis. 

2  See  page  373. 

3  One  person  with  collegiate  training  secured  solely  at  a  normal  school  was  teaching  in  Kansas  City,  altho  a  total 
of  thirty  teachers  had  a  part  of  their  training  at  normal  schools — twenty-five  at  Warren  sburg,  and  five  at  Kirksville. 
Seven  had  stayed  as  long-  as  two  years.  Only  eleven  of  the  thirty  secured  a  full  collegiate  course  in  all ;  eight  others 
did  only  secondary  work  at  normal  school ;  the  remainder  had  taken  collegiate  work  in  varying  amounts  in  at  least 
two  institutions. 

*  The  responsible  officer  in  a  Missouri  town  or  city  school  system  is  called  the  "  superintendent "  in  nearly  all  dis- 
tricts that  maintain  a  first  class  high  school  and  in  some  that  do  not.  Where  this  is  not  the  case,  the  local  head  is 
termed  a  "  principal,"  and  the  supervisory  authority  is  technically  vested  in  the  county  superintendent.  In  almost 
four-fifths  of  the  cases,  however,  even  the  "  superintendent "  is  likewise  a  teacher,  and  purely  supervisory  duties 
shade  off  imperceptibly  into  those  of  a  head  teacher  as  one  goes  down  the  list  from  large  cities  to  small.  It  is  rea- 
sonable, therefore,  by  merging  principals  with  superintendents,  to  consider  these  leading  figures  in  the  local  organ- 
izations in  a  single  group.  Classification  according  to  the  type  of  high  school  over  which  they  preside  brings  out 
clearly  their  essential  traits.  In  the  second  and  third  class  and  in  unclassified  schools  where  these  officers  are  the 
chief  teachers,  the  description  of  their  training  will  serve  as  an  important  supplement  to  the  treatment  of  the  high 
school  teachers. 


CITY  AND  TOWN  SUPERINTENDENTS  377 

districts  containing  first  class  high  schools  ninety-four  per  cent  replied.1  The  latter 
are,  of  course,  the  best  trained  and  best  paid  individuals  of  the  group,  and  consti- 
tute the  educational  leadership  of  the  state  so  far  as  the  public  school  organization 
is  concerned. 

In  general,  the  superintendents  of  school  systems  in  Missouri  possess  the  follow- 
ing educational  background  of  training  in  advance  of  the  elementary  school : 


Less  than 
fo^tr 
years 

Four 
years 

Five 
years 
Or  more 

Six 
years 
or  more 

Seven 
years 
or  more 

Eight 
years 
or  more 

Nine 
years 
or  more 

Ten 
years 
or  more 

Total 

First  Class 
Second  &  Third  Classes 

6 

13 

82 

67 

48 

54 
29 

39 

19 

24, 

4 

8 
1 

144 
150 

11 

23 

66 

100% 

Unclassified 

31 

13 

56 

31 

17 

9 

2 

1 

150 

100% 

The  median  number  of  years  of  training  beyond  the  elementary  school  is  seven  in 
the  first  group;  two-fifths  have  had  eight  years,  including  one-fourth  who  have  done 
graduate  work  in  addition.  In  the  second  and  unclassified  groups  the  median  drops 
to  five  years,  but  with  a  considerable  difference  within  the  group  area,  as  is  shown 
by  the  difference  in  the  proportions  with  six  or  more  years  of  training. 

It  appears  from  the  table  that  one-third  of  the  school  superintendents  in  charge 
of  so-called  first  class  school  systems  have  had,  all  told,  not  more  than  a  four-year 
high  school  course  and  one  year  in  college  or  normal  school  after  they  left  the  eighth 
grade;  and  among  those  presiding  over  second  and  third  class  systems  more  than 
one-half  are  similarly  equipped.2  Missouri  has  evidently  laid  little  emphasis  on  school- 
ing as  compared  with  "practical  experience"  in  selecting  these  officers. 

The  part  played  by  the  different  agencies  in  accomplishing  the  training  of  Mis- 
souri superintendents  is  difficult  to  describe  accurately  owing  to  the  very  general 
intermixture  of  training  received  in  various  institutions.  Among  superintendents  in 
first  class  districts,  one-tenth  have  attended  neither  normal  school  nor  state  univer- 
sity; one-fifth  attended  the  university  only  (five  per  cent),  or  the  university  and  some 
college,  but  no  normal  school;  one- tenth  attended  only  normal  schools;  just  over 
one-half  attended  both  university  and  normal  schools,  and  in  a  few  cases,  still  other 
institutions;  and  the  remainder  attended  both  normal  schools  and  institutions  other 
than  the  university.  Convenient  summer  sessions  with  their  brief  unit  courses  have 
led  to  this  wholesale  migration  —  an  important  educative  factor  in  itself,  provided 

1  From  second  and  third  class  high  school  districts  80  per  cent  sent  in  answers,  and  from  those  with  unclassified 
schools,  77  per  cent. 

2  Degrees  of  any  kind  are  lacking  in  15  per  cent,  29  per  cent,  and  64  per  cent  respectively,  of  the  three  groups  of  su- 
perintendents under  discussion.  Two-year  normal  school  degrees  are  held  by  39  per  cent,  52  per  cent,  and  24  per 
cent,  while  5  per  cent,  4  per  cent,  and  4  per  cent  have  taken  four-year  degrees  from  normal  schools.  College  and 
university  degrees  number  41  per  cent,  15  per  cent,  and  8  per  cent,  including:  9  per  cent,  1  per  cent,  and  1  per  cent 
who  hold  one-year  graduate  degrees ;  there  are  no  doctor's  degrees. 


378  PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

the  work  done  does  not  degenerate  Into  mere  desultory  sampling  of  one  school  after 
another. 

The  median  years  of  work  done  at  the  normal  schools  by  members  of  the  first  group 
was  three  — most  of  it  collegiate.  Three-fourths  of  those  attending  did  part  of  this 
work  in  the  summer  in  three  and  one-half  summer  sessions  each;  thus  about  one- 
third  of  all  their  normal  school  work  was  done  in  this  way,  In  Intervals  of  such  study, 
or  after  it,  three-fourths  of  those  who  went  to  the  normal  schools  took  work  at  the 
university  also.  This  amounted  to  a  little  less  than  one  year,  and  in  two-thirds  of 
the  cases  was  done  only  in  summer  sessions;  hence  the  median  schooling  at  normal 
schools  and  university  of  those  presenting  this  combination  was  nearly  four  years 
divided  as  stated,  and  most  of  it  of  collegiate  character.  Those  who  did  not  attend 
normal  schools  spent  a  slightly  longer  period  at  the  university — in  addition,  of 
course,  to  what  other  collegiate  work  they  may  have  done  elsewhere.  The  total  col- 
legiate training  in  the  case  of  all  those  not  attending  the  normal  schools  amounted 
to  three  years.  The  median  period  of  attendance  at  the  university  on  the  part  of  all 
superintendents  in  first  class  districts  who  enrolled  there  was  somewhat  more  than 
one  year. 

KirksviUe  and  Warrensburg  prepared  by  far  the  largest  number  of  all  superin- 
tendents in  first  class  districts  enrolled  in  normal  schools  —  sharing  almost  equally 
four-fifths  of  the  group.  Maryville  took  four  per  cent,  and  the  others  divided  the 
remainder.  Eleven  individuals  did  their  collegiate  work  wholly  at  KirksviUe  and  four 
wholly  at  Warrensburg.  Only  seven  of  the  one  hundred  three  first  class  superin- 
tendents who  attended  the  university  did  collegiate  work  nowhere  else. 

The  so-called  "superintendents59  or  "principals"  In  districts  not  maintaining  first 
class  high  schools  in  1914-15  were  of  course  primarily  high  school  teachers  and  might 
have  been  considered  in  that  group.  They  were,  however,  more  than  that.  The  edu- 
cational leadership  both  of  the  school  and  of  the  community  usually  devolved  upon 
them,  and  from  that  point  of  view  they  deserve  special  consideration. 

As  shown  in  the  table  already  given,  the  average  member  of  this  group  has  had  a 
secondary  course  somewhere,  either  at  high  school  or  normal  school,  or  both,  and 
a  year  more  of  collegiate  work  which  he  has  usually  picked  up  at  various  schools  in 
summer  sessions.  More  than  four-fifths  of  tUe  large  total  of  three  hundred  have  at- 
tended the  normal  schools;  scarcely  ten  per  cent  ever  went  to  the  university  without 
going  to  the  normal  schools,  tho  about  half  of  the  second  and  third  class  group  and 
a  little  less  than  one-fifth  of  the  unclassified  group — a  total  of  one  hundred  one — 
did  attend  the  university  for  somewhat  more  than  one  summer  session  each.  Their 
median  attendance  at  normal  school  came  to  between  two  and  three  years  —  a  large 
part  of  it  secondary  work  to  be  sure,  as  fewer  than  one- third  brought  four  years  of 
high  school  training  with  them. 

The  work  of  preparing  the  heads  of  lower  class  districts  wras  shared  more  equally  by 
the  normal  schools  than  was  the  case  with  the  first  class  superintendents.  Maryville 


COUNTY  SUPERINTENDENTS  S79 

had  not  far  from  the  same  proportion, — five  per  cent,  —  but  Cape  Girardeau  trained 
fourteen  per  cent,  Springfield  and  Kirks ville  each  took  eighteen  per  cent,  while  War- 
rensburg  had  nearly  twenty-eight  per  cent  of  the  total  number. 

The  median  salary  in  the  first  class  of  superintendents  as  a  whole  stood  at  $1£50; 
in  the  second  and  third  together,  $900;  and  in  the  unclassified  group,  $680.  Among 
those  who  attended  the  normal  schools,  the  median  was  fifty  dollars  lower  in  the 
first  class;  it  was  the  same  as  the  general  median  in  the  second  and  third  classes,  and 
likewise  in  the  unclassified  group.  The  highest  paid  group  of  superintendents  were 
the  sixteen  men  in  the  first  class  who  had  attended  neither  the  Missouri  normal  schools 
nor  the  state  university;  they  received  $1500.  Those  in  the  first  class  who  attended 
the  university  but  not  the  normal  schools  received  $1375.  Long  training  drew  com- 
paratively larger  salaries  in  the  better  positions.  Those  with  eight  years  or  above 
received  $£00  more  than  the  others  in  the  first  class,  $100  more  in  the  second  and 
third,  but  the  same  amount  in  the  unclassified  group  of  which  they  constituted  but 
a  small  proportion — nine  per  cent. 

5.  County  Superintendents 

The  county  superintendent  of  public  schools  is  the  man  oil  whom  the  educational 
welfare  of  the  smaller  communities  in  the  state  at  large  directly  depends.  In  places 
of  sufficient  size  to  have  a  superintendent  of  their  own  there  is  usually  some  sort  of 
a  school "  system  "  into  which  this  executive  fits.  But  in  the  case  of  the  county  super- 
intendent this  is  lacking — he  is  himself  the  system;  it  is  especially  necessary,  there- 
fore, that  he  should  be  a  man  of  superior  ability  and  training,  the  right-hand  agent 
of  the  state  superintendent,  who  should  have  administrative  control  over  his  qualifi- 
cations, appointment,  and  work. 

In  Missouri  the  county  superintendency  was  achieved  only  after  a  long  struggle 
against  traditional  opposition,  and  represents  a  compromise  which  for  three  vital 
reasons  largely  destroys  the  efficiency  of  the  position  :  The  officer  is  elected  by  popu- 
lar vote,  must  be  a  citizen  of  the  county  in  which  he  is  elected,  and  may  possess 
only  nominal  qualifications  for  his  work.  Such  executives  are  probably  better  than 
none,  and  may  occasionally  be  successful,  as  certain  of  the  county  superintendents  in 
Missouri,  and  those  not  invariably  the  best  trained,  clearly  prove;  but  the  average  of 
their  performance  is  admittedly  very  low,  and  an  inspection  of  the  following  general 
statement  of  their  training  in  advance  of  an  elementary  education  makes  the  reason 
why  it  is  low  sufficiently  evident. 

Less  than.          Less  than         Less  than  Four  Five  years         Six  years.       Seven  years      JSiffht  wears 

two  years         three  years       four  years  years  or  more  or  more  or -more  or  more 

10%  15%  28% 16%  56%  38%  25%  15% 

100% 


380  PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

Data  were  supplied  by  all  of  the  ninety-five  men  and  nineteen  women  on  duty  in  the 
one  hundred  fourteen  counties  of  the  state.  The  median  number  of  years  of  training 
above  the  elementary  school  for  both  men  and  women  was  five ;  more  than  one-fourth 
had  less  than  four  years,  while  one-fourth  had  more  than  six  years.  Eight  years  of 
school  work,  or  the  preparation  usually  required  of  a  good  high  school  teacher,  had 
been  completed  by  fewer  than  one-sixth  of  the  total.  Yet  the  state  is  depending  upon 
such  persons  to  direct  and  vitalize  intelligently  the  educational  processes  to  which 
its  total  rural  and  village  school  population  is  subject!  Cheerful  inadequacy  of  educa- 
tional procedure  in  a  sovereign  American  democracy  could  find  no  more  revealing 
illustration. 

Seventy  per  cent  of  the  number  have  at  some  time  attended  a  normal  school,1  but 
for  brief  periods  as  far  as  collegiate  work  is  concerned ;  one-half  of  these  have  done 
either  secondary  work  only  or  less  than  one  year's  work  beyond  secondary  require- 
ments. Seventeen  per  cent  have  attended  both  the  normal  schools  and  the  university, 
and  seven  per  cent,  the  university  but  not  the  normal  schools.  Just  over  one-fourth 
hold  two-year  degrees  or  better,  and  fewer  than  one-tenth  have  four-year  degrees. 

Salaries  reflect  the  training  to  a  considerable  extent.  The  median  annual  salary  in 
the  group  of  fifty  having  four  years  or  less  of  training  beyond  the  elementary  school 
is  $900  as  compared  with  $1£00  in  the  group  of  sixty-four  having  more  than  four 
years  of  preparation.  Those  who  have  attended  normal  schools  and  the  university 
for  whatever  period  receive  a  median  of  81100,  as  compared  with  $975,  which  is  the 
median  for  the  twenty-six  others.  The  nineteen  women  receive  $1100,  and  have 
slightly  better  training  than  the  ninety-five  men  who  receive  $1000. 

The  situation  as  to  the  professional  training  of  the  county  superintendents  that 
has  been  indicated  above  is  deplorable,  and  is  fully  appreciated  by  the  normal 
schools  and  by  the  university.  Efforts  have  been  made  at  all  the  schools  to  inspire  and 
assist  these  public  servants  in  discharging  heavy  responsibilities  little  appreciated  by 
the  state  at  large.  The  betterment  of  their  professional  equipment  is  wholly  volun- 
tary on  their  part,  however,  and  under  the  political  arrangement  in  vogue  it  cannot 
be  wondered  at  if  the  majority  feel  that  their  time  is  more  profitably  spent  in  repair- 
ing their  "fences"  rather  than  their  education.  A  state  that  will  tolerate  such  a  system 
must  expect  to  reap  its  legitimate  fruits  in  the  low  vitality  and  slow  progress  of  its 
educational  interests  at  the  very  point  where  growth  should  to-day  be  most  rapid. 


C.  WHAT  HAVE  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  DONE  FOR  THE  STATE? 
NORMAL  SCHOOLS  MOST  EFFECTIVE  IN  SMALL  COMMUNITIES 

In  characterizing  the  achievement  of  the  normal  schools  as  revealed  by  their  pro- 
duct in  actual  service,  a  few  striking  facts  engage  the  attention  at  once.  First,  with 
regard  to  geographical  limitations.  The  normal  schools  scarcely  touch  St.  Louis,  and 

1  Four  per  cent  have  enrolled  at  Maryville.  The  other  schools  have  each  drawn  practically  one-sixth  of  the  total. 


WHAT  HAVE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  DONE?  381 

with  the  development  of  Kansas  City's  local  training  school  they  will  in  the  future 
have  even  less  access  there  than  heretofore.  Furthermore,  altho  a  majority  of  ele- 
mentary teachers  in  the  next  largest  urban  centres  have  at  some  time  attended  nor- 
mal schools,  the  financial  position  of  those  who  have  not  attended  them  is  much 
better  than  that  of  those  who  have.  This  can  be  partially  accounted  for  by  the  fact 
that  those  who  have  not  attended  normal  schools  are  older  teachers  who  are  drawing 
higher  salaries.  Nevertheless,  the  relation  holds  good  even  age  for  age  from  the  very 
outset,  indicating  that  the  situation  is  one  of  serious  significance  which  the  normal 
schools  may  well  take  to  heart. 

Systematic  enquiry  thru  these  larger  systems  showed  that  while  the  work  of  the 
normal  schools  was  approved  as  valuable  for  broadening  teachers  when  already  in 
service,  yet  for  practical  initial  results  the  superintendents  preferred  teachers  taken 
directly  from  their  own  high  schools,  especially  if  they  had  teacher- training  classes. 
Such  people  knew  the  ground,  and  could  shortly  be  trained  to  fit,  while  a  stranger 
from  the  normal  school  not  only  needed  an  equal  amount  of  special  training,  but 
often  brought  curious  and  fixed  ideas  that  must  first  be  modified  before  she  could 
succeed.  Thus  because  of  the  generalized,  indefinite  preparation  which  they  have  em- 
phasized, the  normal  schools  never  have  made  their  service  indispensable  to  these 
larger  systems  as  they  might  have  done.  Several  of  the  cities  would  gladly  have  es- 
tablished their  own  training  schools  had  they  been  able  to  afford  it. 

In  the  small  cities  and  in  the  towns,  on  the  contrary,  the  normal  schools  have  been 
thoroughly  at  home.  Here  a  paternalized  board  control,  frequent  changes  in  superin- 
tendents, and  a  generally  undeveloped  educational  situation  have  made  the  varied 
accessions  from  the  normal  school  assimilable  because  they  were  more  responsible 
than  high  school  graduates  who,  under  the  circumstances,  could  not  be  well  super- 
vised. Such  a  situation  in  turn  has  appealed  to  the  normal  schools,  interested  as  they 
were  primarily,  not  in  furnishing  teachers  technically  competent  for  specific  tasks, 
but  in  giving  boys  and  girls  a  general  education  thru  teaching  as  a  means  of  sup- 
port ad  interim. 

NORMAL  SCHOOL  INFLUENCE  WIDESPREAD  BUT  VAGUE 

Secondly,  in  respect  to  the  scope  of  normal  school  activity,  the  situation  answers 
perfectly  the  desires  and  claims  of  the  most  catholic  normal  school  enthusiast.  Most 
frequently  as  an  interlayer,  a  veneer,  or  merely  as  a  wash,  but  rarely  as  the  solely 
sufficient  institutional  preparation  for  a  teacher,  normal  school  experience  occurs 
plentifully  in  every  grade  of  the  profession  in  Missouri,  In  1915  nearly  one-half  of  the 
country  school  teachers  had  attended  normal  schools  for  six  months;1  two-thirds  of 
the  teachers  in  graded  elementary  schools  had  attended  the  normal  schools  for  one  year. 
More  than  half  of  all  teachers  in  classified  high  schools,  outside  of  St.  Louis  and 
Kansas  City,  had  attended  the  normal  schools  for  two  years;  in  first  class  high  schools 

1  This  and  the  similar  measures  of  attendance  which  follow  should  be  understood  as  the  median  in  each  case. 


PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

two-fifths  of  the  teachers  had  such  training,  and  in  the  second  and  third  class  schools,, 
the  great  majority.  Two-thirds  of  the  city  and  town  superintendents  in  first  class  dis- 
tricts,, and  four-fifths  of  the  remainder,  had  attended  normal  schools — the  first  for 
a  period  of  three  years.  Of  county  superintendents,  seven-tenths  received  part  or  all 
of  their  professional  schooling  in  these  institutions.  Of  course  a  very  large  amount 
of  all  this  has  been  secondary  work  only.  Nevertheless,  the  normal  schools  have  clearly 
made  themselves  part  and  parcel  of  the  educational  fabric  of  the  state,  especially  in 
its  smaller  centres  and  rural  districts. 

But  it  is  the  ^.ature  of  this  extraordinary  performance  that  gives  it  its  chief  sig- 
nificance. When  it  is  remembered  that  an  appreciable  part  of  the  work  was  done 
in  summer  sessions,  often  after  the  student  had  already  taken  his  position;  that 
classes  were  generally  made  up  of  several  kinds  of  student  at  once,  so  that  the  same 
course  was  obliged  to  function  for  a  superintendent  as  "school  administration,"  for 
a  principal  as  "school  management,"  and  for  a  teacher  as  "class  management;"  when 
the  amount  of  brief,  irregular  attendance  is  recalled,  as  well  as  the  almost  complete 
lack  of  sequence  or  coherence  in  the  courses  themselves;  when  all  these  conditions 
are  considered,  the  results  before  us  appear  as  an  indistinguishable  blur.  Courses  deal- 
ing distinctly  and  adequately  with  the  problems  of  the  principal,  the  superintendent, 
or  even  of  the  high  school  teacher  could  not  succeed  at  the  normal  schools,  to  say 
nothing  of  whole  curricula  for  such  persons.  It  was  thought  necessary,  therefore,  if 
they  were  accommodated  at  all,  to  fall  back  on  general  courses,  and  because  this  was 
thought  to  be  necessary,  it  became  part  of  the  normal  school's  theory  of  teacher- 
training — such  courses  for  all  comers  were  unifying  and  democratic,  ran  the  doc- 
trine; specific  training  was  either  needless  or  should  be  obtained  only  in  practice. 

The  normal  schools  may  claim  with  much  force  that  this  adjustment  has  suited 
the  existing  conditions ;  that  with  legislation  such  as  it  was,  there  was  no  alternative 
but  to  offer  to  fit  everybody  for  everything,  since  in  fact  this  was  about  what  every- 
body did.  It  has  been  one  of  the  objects  of  this  report  to  point  out  the  weakness 
of  such  efforts,  and  to  urge  that  the  normal  schools  themselves  lead  the  movement  to 
convince  the  Missouri,  public  that  its  educational  problems  are  real  and  difficult, 
that  they  require  people  of  special  ability  and  prolonged  specific  training  for  their 
handling,  and  that  only  such  persons  should  be  allowed  to  qualify  for  the  public  ser- 
vice. Such  a  policy  is  the  only  one  that  is  defensible  educationally  to-day,  and  fur- 
thermore, it  is  the  only  one  that  will  win  the  confidence  of  school  systems  sufficiently 
developed  to  have  discriminating  requirements. 

GOOD  TEACHERS  IMPOSSIBLE  AT  THE  PRESENT  ECONOMIC  LEVEL 

A  final  characteristic,  not  so  much  of  the  normal  school  product  as  of  the  condi- 
tions vital  to  the  quality  of  that  product,  appears  in  the  data  already  cited,  with 
force  calculated  to  appall  the  student  of  education  in  a  democracy.  Teachers  and 
school  officers  who 'have  studied  at  the  normal  schools  for  any  considerable  period  do 


WHAT  HAVE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  DONE? 

Indeed  appear  to  receive  usually  a  little  more  money  than  those  who  have  not9  but 
where  it  exists,  the  difference  is  so  minute  as  only  to  compel  attention  rather  to  the 
utter  absurdity  of  the  general  economic  level  itself.  Rural  teachers  receive  $45  per 
month  for  six  or  eight  months;  graded  school  teachers1  receive  annually  $4<5Q;  high 
school  teachers,1  $675;  superintendents,  the  educational  chief s-of- staff,  receive9  in 
first  class  cities,  $1250,  elsewhere,  $900;  and  county  superintendents,  the  state's 
highest  educational  officials  in  direct  contact  with  schools,  $1075.2 

Why  take  the  trouble  to  point  out  that  one  group  receives  an  annual  salary  of 
$500,  whereas  another  receives  but  $450,  when  both  sums  are  plainly  less  than  the 
increase  alone  should  have  been  during  the  recent  period  of  rising  prices?  Missouri 
would  have  education  for  its  youth — education  which  is  obtainable  only  from  selected 
and  skilled  men  and  women  who  themselves  possess  it  as  professional  capital  for 
this  purpose.  Yet  to  obtain  it  the  state  bids  an  amount  that  would  shame  an  un- 
skilled farm  hand  or  the  lowest  class  of  street  laborer.  The  situation  would  be  in- 
credible were  it  not  real.  This  is  not  an  invective  based  upon  a  sentimental  feeling 
for  the  poverty-stricken  teacher;  he.is  indeed  a  conscientious  and  devoted  worker, 
and  on  the  score  of  good  intentions  alone  undoubtedly  deserves  more  than  he  receives. 
The  really  desperate  facts  in  the  case  are  of  quite  another  nature.  They  have  to  do 
solely  with  the  crying  needs  of  the  children  for  whom  teachers  are  employed.  On  the 
whole,  Missouri  is  getting  to-day  just  what  it  pays  for  —  a  palpably  crude,  ignorant, 
and  wasteful  performance  in  elementary  and  secondary  instruction  in  which  its  boys 
and  girls  are  the  constant  and  final  sufferers.  It  would  be  foolish  to  pay  much  more 
for  this. 

Suppose,  on  the  other  hand,  that  Missouri  were  to  enlarge  and  utilize  in  the  ele- 
mentary and  secondary  schools,  alike  in  town  and  country,  its  present  fifteen  hun- 
dred dollar  class  in  the  professional  population — the  class  well  represented  to-day, 
say,  by  the  men  and  women  now  teaching  in  the  normal  schools  and  in  some  of  the 
smaller  colleges.  These  constitute  a  well-prepared  and  carefully  selected  body  of 
teachers  capable  of  giving  genuine  instruction  in  elementary  and  secondary  schools. 
Fifteen  thousand  of  them  could  be  had  in  a  short  time  if  the  state  chose  to  triple  its 
investment  in  teachers  salaries ;  and  flae  resulting  educational  transformation  would 
prove  immediately  to  the  blindest  citizen  that  what  he  is  now  taught  to  regard  as 
good  public  education  is  but  a  travesty  on  what  is  actually  available,  and  what  he 
himself  could  easily,  and  would  gladly,  pay  for.  Why  should  St.  Louis  have  accom- 
plished teachers  while  a  remote  county  in  the  Ozarks,  with  just  as  capable  and  deserv- 
ing boys  and  girls  to  educate,  puts  up  with  instruction  that  is  wholly  inefficient  and 
depressing?  The  state  exists  to  equalize  these  differences.  It  can  do  it,  and  it  ought 
to  do  it. 

1  Excluding  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City. 

s  Changes  since  1915  have  tended  to  convert  these  medians  into  minima  without,  however,  altering  the  general 

situation. 


584  PRODUCT  OF  THE  NORMAL   SCHOOL 

It  is  obvious,  of  course,  that  under  these  conditions  the  normal  schools  have  not 
provided,  and  could  not  provide,  the  state  with  good  teachers  as  that  terra  must 
truthfully  be  interpreted.  They  have  moved  steadily  and  industriously  along,  reflect- 
ing the  publics  generally  low  conception  of  what  good  teaching  meant,  but  maintain- 
ing the  personally  high  character  and  ideals  of  their  students.  If  granted  by  the  state 
a  commission  to  prepare  real  teachers  of  expert  attainments  and  the  means  where- 
with to  do  it,  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  they  would  not  speedily  and  success- 
fully adjust  themselves  to  that  task. 


X 

LINCOLN  INSTITUTE 

LINCOLN  INSTITUTE,  located  at  Jefferson  City,  is  the  state's  school  for  colored  teachers. 
The  manner  of  its  origin  is  probably  unique.  The  institution  was  established  upon  a 
slender  foundation  of  $6879  contributed  in  1865  by  the  veterans  of  the  Sixty-second 
and  Sixty-fifth  Regiments  of  the  United  States  Colored  Infantry,  that  the  children 
of  their  race  in  Missouri  might  have  a  useful  education.  Richard  B.  Foster  (white), 
a  New  Englander  educated  at  Dartmouth  and  a  first  lieutenant  in  the  Sixty-second 
Regiment,  organized  and  for  six  years  assisted  in  conducting  the  school.  In  1879  it 
was  relieved  of  debt  and  taken  over  by  the  state,  which  has  since  provided  its  support. 

The  problems  of  this  very  appealing  little  enterprise  are  of  such  a  special  and  pe- 
culiar nature  as  to  preclude  their  satisfactory  discussion  within  the  limits  of  the  pres- 
ent volume.  It  seems  permissible9  however,  even  without  presenting  the  evidence,  to 
record  briefly  the  impressions  that  a  careful  examination  of  the  institution  made  upon 
those  engaged  in  the  enquiry.1 

Colored  persons  constitute  less  than  one- twentieth  of  Missouri's  total  population 
and  tend  to  diminish  in  relative  numbers.  The  colored  teachers  required  in  the  state 
are  therefore  few — less  than  eight  hundred  all  told  in  191 5. 2  Nevertheless,  the  state 
constitution  requires  that  such  teachers  be  educated  separately  from  white  teachers. 
This  being  the  case,  it  is  manifestly  to  be  expected  that  the  training  provided  should 
bear  favorable  comparison  with  that  afforded  white  teachers;  much  as  the  admirable 
high  school  advantages  for  colored  youth  in  St.  Louis  may  be  fairly  compared  with 
the  opportunities  supplied  for  children  of  white  parents. 

This  expectation  is  very  far  from  being  realized.  The  essential  character  of  the 
school  as  at  present  conducted  is  epitomized  in  the  catalogue  announcement  that  its 
president  is  professor  of  "  Psychology,  Educational  Psychology,  Rural  Pedagogy,  So- 
ciology and  Latin,  Modern  and  Medieval  History,  Economics,  Logic,  and  Director  of 
the  Training  School,"  and  that  its  students  have  opportunities  for  "a  college  course, 
the  same  as  students  at  the  State  University  at  Columbia."  Actually,  the  "college  de- 
partment," for  which  an  elaborate  curriculum  is  set  forth,  does  not  exist ;  considered 
on  its  merits,  all  of  the  school's  work,  the  normal  department  included,  is  on  a  second- 
ary level  or  below,  and  has  apparently  always  been  so.  Curricula  could  not  be  discov- 
ered, and  the  training  department  is  a  pathetic  delusion.  It  requires  something  more 
than  the  degree-granting  powers  lavishly  bestowed  by  the  Legislature,  and  the  pre- 
tentious claims  of  a  catalogue,  to  maintain  a  school. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  properly  labeled,  much  of  the  instruction,  especially  in  tech- 
nical branches,  would  undoubtedly  appear  worthy  and  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  stu- 

1  The  school  was  visited  in  1916,  Changres  are  known  to  have  taken  place  since  then,  notably  in  the  directorship, 
but  with  what  effect  feas  not  been  ascertained. 

2  State  Be&ort,  1915,  page  230. 


386  LINCOLN  INSTITUTE 

dents.  The  academic  work  is  of  a  highly  formal  character,  but  the  teachers  seem  in 
many  cases  to  be  well  educated.  So  far  as  could  be  discovered,  the  students'  life  at  the 
school  was  wholesome  and  profitable. 

The  chief  weaknesses  in  the  institution  appear  to  arise,  first,  out  of  a  lack  of  capa- 
ble leadership  and,  second,  out  of  too  little  protection  from  political  disturbance. 
Competent  testimony  indicated  that  an  upheaval  was  expected  at  least  with  each 
change  of  the  political  administration  and  occasionally  oftener.  The  school  is  under 
the  very  shadow  of  the  capitol,  and  owing  to  its  peculiar  nature  is  exposed  to  spe- 
cial manipulation.  It  would  be  a  great  relief  to  the  institution,  not  to  speak  of  the 
educational  gain  that  would  surely  follow,  if  it  could  be  placed  in  charge  of  a  good 
state  board  of  education  as  suggested  elsewhere  for  the  normal  schools. 

It  hardly  needs  to  be  pointed  out  that  no  school  can  be  expected  to  thrive  with- 
out adequate  leadership  and  without  provision  for  automatic  educational  inspection 
and  stimulation  from  without.  If  a  competent  director  for  the  school  cannot  be  found 
among  colored  candidates, — a  contingency  that  is  difficult  to  believe, — a  white  man 
should  certainly  be  installed.  The  state  as  a  whole  has  no  interest  in  providing  per- 
quisites for  the  colored  race,  but  it  is  interested  in  giving  the  members  of  that  race 
in  Missouri  access  to  an  appropriate  and  thorough  education  of  modern  type.  Even 
among  the  responsible  educators  of  the  state  the  situation  as  it  exists  is  regarded  as 
a  joke,  and  it  would  rightly  be  so  considered  were  it  not  so  pitiful  and  so  unnecessary. 

If  the  organization  of  teacher- training  agencies  elsewhere  described  *  were  to  be 
developed  for  the  university  and  normal  schools,  the  director  of  Lincoln  Institute 
should  be  included  in  the  professional  board  having  immediate  charge  of  supplying 
teachers.  In  the  case  of  St.  Louis,  already  referred  to,  the  principal  of  the  high  school 
for  colored  students  meets  with  the  other  high  school  principals  in  their  professional 
deliberations  and  receives  the  inspiration  of  their  criticism  and  advice.  The  same 
relation  in  the  case  of  the  schools  established  to  promote  the  state's  interest  in  good 
teachers  would  be  equally  desirable  and  proper. 


XI 

SUMMARY  OF  PROPOSALS  FOR  THE  PREPARATION  OF 

MISSOURI  TEACHERS  IN  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 
PURPOSE  OF  THE  PROPOSALS 

THE  chief  problem  at  present  confronting  the  State  of  Missouri,  like  that  in  most 
other  states,  is  how  best,  with  state  funds  and  thru  state  control,  to  ensure  adequate 
education  for  all  of  its  youth  throughout  the  twelve-year  period  terminating  in  gen- 
eral when  the  pupil  becomes  eighteen  years  of  age.  Adequate  education  is  primarily 
a  matter  of  competent  teachers,  and  the  provision  of  competent  teachers  is  a  single 
clearly  defined  task  outranking  in  importance  all  other  state  obligations  save  only 
the  maintenance  of  social  order  and  the  protection  of  the  public  health,  and  is  supe- 
rior even  to  these  except  in  the  sense  that  without  them  it  could  not  be  achieved. 

To  provide  itself  with  teachers,  the  State  of  Missouri  has  availed  itself  of  various 
agencies  originating  in  different  ways  and  hitherto  pursuing  an  independent  devel- 
opment. In  their  earlier  stages  these  uncoordinated  instrumentalities  wrought  well 
on  the  whole;  their  utmost  labors  have  successfully  reduced  a  colossal  need.  Of  late, 
however,  the  clearer  definition  of  their  task  has  shown  them  to  be  acting  upon  mutu- 
ally conflicting  and  wasteful  policies. 

A  sound  and  progressive  development  of  the  function  of  teacher  preparation  in  the 
future  requires  that  it  be  conceived  and  administered  consistently  as  one  problem, 
that  all  of  its  phases  be  related  to  a  single  fully  informed  and  competent  executive 
authority;  and  that  it  be  supervised  by  a  representative  body  responsive  to  the  will 
of  the  state  and  capable  of  interpreting  its  desires. 

Altho  the  provision  of  properly  selected  and  instructed  teachers  is  much  the  weight- 
iest item  in  a  staters  educational  program,  it  is  in  itself  but  a  part  of  the  total  edu- 
cational problem.  Rearrangements  intended  to  furnish  a  sufficient  supply  of  good 
teachers  may  therefore  involve  a  readjustment  of  the  entire  educational  administra- 
tion with  a  view  to  securing  an  efficient  scheme  of  organization. 

With  needs  such  as  these  in  view,  the  Missouri  institutions  chiefly  concerned  have 
already  embarked  upon  a  plan  of  voluntary  cooperation  which  has  effected  many 
important  improvements  and  promises  many  more.  Pending  fundamental  readjust- 
ments, this  movement  should  be  allowed  opportunity  to  mature. 

It  has  been  the  purpose  of  this  study,  however,  to  reach  as  nearly  as  possible  the 
root  of  existing  weaknesses,  and  to  suggest  changes  likely  to  correct  them  not  only 
in  Missouri  but  wherever  they  may  be  found.  To  this  end,  therefore,  and  not  solely 
with  the  idea  of  formulating  a  possible  program  for  Missouri,  the  proposals  here  sum- 
marized are  offered.  They  group  themselves  naturally  in  two  divisions:  A.  Conclusions 
and  proposals  having  to  do  with  the  external  organization  and  control  of  normal 
schools;  and  B.  Conclusions  and  proposals  relating  to  the  internal  organization  and 


388  SUMMARY  OF  CONCLUSIONS 

procedure  best  suited  to  the  preparation  of  teachers  in  state  institutions  of  the  nor- 
mal school  type. 

A.  CONCLUSIONS  AND  PEOPOSALS  DELATING  TO  EXTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  CONTROL 
1.  Constitutional  Modifications1  (see  Chapter  IV,  C,  page  63) 

a.  The  constitution  should  provide  for  a  State  Board  of  Education  consisting  of 
five  members  serving  without  pay,  said  board  to  be  further  determined  and 
established  by  law.  To  this  board  the  constitution  should  delegate  full  powers 
of  government,  control,  and,  thru  its  appointed  officers,  of  administration  of 
all  educational  institutions  or  departments  of  whatever  nature  for  which  state 
moneys  or  legislative  appropriations  are  expended,  together  with  the  custo- 
dianship, regulation,  and  distribution  of  all  state  funds  existing  for  educa- 
tional purposes.  It  should  be  the  further  constitutional  duty  of  said  board  to 
exercise  general  supervision  over  the  entire  educational  system  of  the  state;  to 
see  to  the  execution  and  enforcement  throughout  the  state  of  all  laws  relating 
to  education;  to  learn  by  competent  inspection  and  to  report  to  the  legislature 
at  each  regular  session  concerning  the  conditions,  progress,  and  needs  of  the 
people  of  the  state  in  respect  to  education;  and  from  time  to  time  to  frame  for 
enactment  into  law  proposals  that  shall  meet  the  educational  requirements  as 
reported.  Finally,  it  should  be  the  constitutional  duty  of  the  board  to  serve 
as  the  agent  of  the  state  in  all  dealings  with  the  federal  government  in  which 
educational  considerations  or  appropriations  for  education  of  any  sort  are 
involved. 

b.  The  present  ex-officio  Board  of  Education  and  the  existing  office  of  State  Su- 
perintendent of  Public  Schools,  together  with  all  other  provisions  inconsistent 
with  the  above  proposals,  should  be  omitted  from  the  constitution. 

%.  Legislative  Provisions  (see  Chapter  IV,  B  and  C,  pages  54  and  63) 

a.  In  accordance  with  the  suggested  amendments  to  the  constitution  there  should 
be  created  a  Board  of  Education  of  the  character  and  for  the  purposes  therein 
stated.  The  members  of  this  board  should  be  representative  citizens  not  pro- 
fessionally engaged  in  education  or  interested  directly  in  any  educational 
institution;  they  should  not  be  incumbents  of  any  position  in  the  pay  of  the 
state  or  otherwise  a  public  trust;  they  should  be  elected  at  large  or  appointed 
by  the  governor,  one  member  every  two  years  for  a  term  of  ten  years.  The  spe- 
cific duties  of  this  board  should  be  as  follows : 

(1)  To  appoint  an  executive  officer  to  be  known  as  the  Chancellor  of  the  Uni- 
versity, thru  whom  alone  the  board  should  control  and  administer  the  vari- 
ous institutions  of  the  state  constituting  the  university. 

(2)  To  appoint,  coordinate  with  the  foregoing,  an  executive  officer  to  be  known 
as  Commissioner  of  Elementary  and  Secondary  Education,  thru  whom 
alone  its  oversight  of  elementary  and  secondary  education  should  be  con- 
ducted. 

1  Changes  in  the  Missouri  constitution  are  not  indispensable  to  a  successful  organization  of  the  agencies  for  prepar- 
ing- teachers.  The  normal  schools  may  be  incorporated  with  the  state  university  by  legal  enactment,  and  the  func- 
tions of  a  Board  of  Education  may  be  discharged,  so  far  as  institutions  are  concerned,  by  the  present  Board  of  Cura- 
tors. In  that  case  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools  would  continue  to  be  an  elective  officer,  but  should  be  a 
member  of  the  proposed  council  of  presidents. 


EXTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  389 

(3)  To  fix  the  salaries  of  Its  chief  executives,  and  in  event  of  the  unsatisfactory 
performance  of  their  duties,  or  of  their  failure  to  cooperate.,  to  remove 
them. 

(4)  To  appoint  upon  nomination  thru  its  chief  executives  respectively  (in 
the  Division  of  Education,  on  the  original  initiative  of  the  divisional  board 
of  presidents),  and  upon  their  motion  to  remove,  all  officers,  professors, 
instructors^deputies,  inspectors,  examiners,  and  other  assistants  necessary 
to  the  effective  performance  of  the  duties  of  the  board  and  to  the  successful 
conduct  of  the  institutions  under  their  control,  and  to  fix  their  salaries. 

(5)  To  arrive  at  its  conclusions  in  all  matters  only  after  advising  with  its  chief 
executives,  who  for  this  purpose  shall  be  ex-officns  non-voting  members  of 
the  board,  and  to  give  validity  by  its  sanction  to  their  approved  proposals, 

(6)  Thru  its  executive,  the  Chancellor  of  the  University,  to  exercise  complete 
oversight  and  control  over  all  state-supported  institutions  in  so  far  as  they 
are  engaged  in  any  form  of  higher  or  adult  education;  in  schools  aided 
by  the  state,  to  exercise  such  oversight  as  may  be  necessary  to  safeguard 
the  conditions  upon  which  aid  is  granted. 

(7)  Thru  its  executive,  the  Commissioner  of  Elementary  and  Secondary  Edu- 
cation, to  exercise  a  general  supervision  over  the  public  school  system 
of  the  state;  to  attend  to  the  enforcement  of  all  laws  pertaining  to  public 
schools  or  to  education  in  this  field ;  to  regulate  completely  the  distribu- 
tion of  school  funds;  to  classify  schools;  to  establish  uniform  records  and 
reports;  to  determine  the  qualifications  of  teachers,  the  amount  and  gen- 
eral character  of  their  training,  their  certification  for  elementary,  second- 
ary, and  special  schools,  and  the  recognition  of  certificates  and  diplomas 
from  other  states;  to  establish  in  cooperation  with  the  State  Board  of 
Health  standards  for  the  construction,  arrangement,  and  sanitary  equip- 
ment of  school  buildings  and  school  sites,  and  to  direct  the  medical  inspec- 
tion and  study  of  public  health  in  so  far  as  schools  are  concerned. 

(8)  Thru  its  executives,  jointly: 

(a)  To  provide  the  necessary  agencies  both  for  the  initial  training  of  teach- 
ers and  for  their  professional  advancement  in  service,  and  to  super- 
vise their  operation. 

(&)  To  consider  the  interests  and  welfare  of  the  whole  body  of  teachers  in 
the  state  and,  if  found  desirable,  to  undertake  the  establishment  of  a 
retirement  or  pension  fund  for  their  benefit. 

(c)  To  study  the  educational  needs  of  the  state  and  to  take  steps  to  pro- 
vide adequate  facilities  for  such  training  as  may  be  considered  advan- 
tageous. 

(d)  To  give  state- wide  publicity  to  accurate  and  comprehensive  informa- 
tion regarding  the  available  educational  facilities  both  within  and 
without  the  state. 

(<?)  To  prepare  and  submit  to  each  legislature  a  budget  of  expenditures 
for  educational  purposes  during  the  ensuing  biennium, 

(f)  To  make  an  annual  report  to  the  governor  of  its  acts,  together  with  an 


390  SUMMARY  OF  CONCLUSIONS 

itemized  account  of  expenditures  of  all  state  funds  and  appropriations 
for  education. 

&.  To  make  the  foregoing  provision  effective,  there  should  be  transferred  to  the 
State  Board  of  Education  thus  created ,  all  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  pres- 
ent Board  of  Education  and  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools.,  of  the 
Board  of  Curators  of  the  university,  of  each  of  the  six  Boards  of  Regents  of 
the  state  normal  schools  and  of  Lincoln  Institute,  of  the  boards  now  in  charge 
of  the  state  institutions  for  the  blind,  for  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and  of  all  other 
state-supported  institutions  in  so  far  as  the  education  of  attendants  or  inmates 
is  concerned. 

c.  All  laws  inconsistent  with  the  intent  of  the  above  recommended  legislation 
should  be  repealed. 

3.  Administrative  Policies  of  the  Board  (see  Chapter  IV,  B,  page  54) 

a.  In  view  of  the  organization  provided  for  above,  all  state-supported  agencies 
for  the  preparation  of  teachers  should  become  component  units  in  the  state's 
establishment  for  higher  education — the  university;  their  several  directors 
should  continue  to  function  as  presidents  of  their  respective  institutions. 
Even  without  the  larger  changes  involving  constitutional  alteration,  the  in- 
corporation of  the  normal  schools  as  colleges  within  the  organization  of  the 
state  university  would  make  possible  most  of  the  changes  deemed  desirable 
in  this  study. 

§.  Such  coordination  accomplished,  steps  should  be  taken  at  once  for  bringing 
the  whole  problem  of  the  preparation  and  supply  of  teachers  under  compe- 
tent and  unremitting  study  with  a  view  to  maintaining  the  various  agencies 
at  hand  in  constant  adjustment  to  the  needs  of  the  state.  For  this  purpose 
the  several  heads  of  institutions,  together  with  the  dean  of  the  school  of 
education  at  the  university,  should  be  constituted  a  permanent  council  of  en- 
quiry and  administration  for  the  preparation  and  supply  of  teachers.  As  au- 
thorized experts  in  that  field  it  should  be  their  business,  in  frequent  sessions 
and  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Chancellor  and  Board  of  Education — 

(1)  To  determine  accurately,  with  the  advice  and  assistance  of  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Elementary  and  Secondary  Education,  the  number  and  char- 
acter of  the  teachers  needed  to  supply  satisfactorily  the  public  schools  of 
Missouri,  and  to  formulate  proposals  for  the  provision  or  adaptation  of 
facilities  to  meet  this  need. 

(2)  To  determine,  with  the  cooperation  and  approval  of  their  respective  facul- 
ties, the  nature  and  organization  of  the  various  curricula  and  courses 
necessary  to  furnish  the  kind  and  number  of  teachers  desired;  to  assign 
the  various  types  of  work  to  different  schools  with  a  view  to  utilizing  the 
available  facilities  to  the  best  possible  advantage. 

(3)  To  agree  upon  all  regulations  and  administrative  procedure  governing  the 
different  colleges  and  schools  of  education,  and  to  provide  for  the  effec- 
tive execution  of  their  conclusions;  to  determine  the  personnel  of  instruc- 
tion and  administration  in  the  same,  as  well  as  successors  to  their  own 
membership. 


INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  S91 

(4)  To  prepare  and  submit  to  the  Chancellor  biennially  a  budget  of  expend- 
itures for  the  preparation  of  teachers  during  the  ensuing  biennium. 

c.  Of  the  organization  just  described  the  Chancellor  of  the  University  and  the 
Commissioner  of  Elementary  and  Secondary  Education  would  properly  be 
members  ex-qfficiis.  The  first  would  seek  to  maintain  appropriate  relations 
between  the  different  forms  of  professional  education — law,  medicine,  agri- 
culture and  so  forth,  and  teaching;  while  the  latter,  as  the  responsible  head 
of  the  service  into  which  teachers  go,  would  naturally  be  vitally  concerned  in 
their  adequate  preparation. 


B.  CONCLUSIONS  AND  PROPOSALS  RELATING  TO  INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  AND 

PROCEDURE 

1.  Purpose  and  Scope  of  Normal  School  Effort  (see  Chapter  V,  page  70) 

a.  It  should  be  considered  as  a  fundamental  principle  that  state-supported 
agencies  for  preparing  teachers  should  devote  themselves  exclusively  and  with- 
out reserve  to  that  task. 

5.  The  scope  of  the  activities  of  any  state-supported  institution  for  preparing 
teachers  should  be  determined  invariably  by  a  permanent  authority  repre- 
senting all  such  undertakings  within  the  state.  The  harmonious-  interrela- 
tionship of  all  teacher-preparing  agencies  in  accordance  with  a  careful  and 
exhaustive  canvass  of  the  existing  needs  is  the  only  proper  guide  in  deter- 
mining what  kind  of  teachers  any  given  school  or  department  shall  undertake 
to  prepare. 

2.  The  Curricula 

a.  Outstanding  Problems  of  Curriculum  Construction  (see  Chapter  VII,  A,  page 
188) 

(1)  The  minimum  standard  of  admission  to  all  professional  teaching  curric- 
ula should  be  the  requirement  of  graduation  from  an  approved  four-year 
secondary  school,  or  its  equivalent  by  examination;  this  standard  should 
be  fixed  at  once.  Service  as  teacher  in  a  public  school  without  recognized 
professional  training  of  collegiate  character  should  be  made  impossible. 

(2)  A  schedule  of  progressive  increase  in  residence  requirements  should  be 
established.  The  expressed  goal  of  this  program  should  be,  in  effect,  an 
identical  residence  requirement  for  all  public  school  teachers  from  the  first 
to  the  twelfth  grades,  urban  and  rural  alike,  — a  requirement  of  four  school 
years  of  organized  professional  preparation  of  collegiate  character. 

(8)  In  order  to  make  possible  a  standard  admission  and  residence  require- 
ment for  professional  curricula  in  the  case  of  women,  the  profession  of 
teaching  should  be  made  attractive  to  them  throughout  the  state  as  a  per- 
manent life  career.  Their  marriage  should  not  be  considered  as  a  bar  to 
such  service,  but  rather  as  an  added  qualification. 

(4)  After  a  brief  period  of  orientation  and  self-discovery  on  common  ground, 


£  SUMMARY  OF  CONCLUSIONS 

all  professional  curricula  should,  in  the  interests  of  the  public  service,  have 
in  view  definitely  distinguished  positions,  to  the  preparation  for  which 
their  entire  resources  may  contribute.  In  so  far  as  formulated  disciplines 
exist  that  clearly  promote  skill  and  power  in  the  given  position,  the  prin- 
ciple of  free  or  group  election  should  give  place  to  prescriptive  sequences 
prepared  by  experienced  observers.  In  the  longer  curricula,  where  reasoned 
equivalence  may  be  secured,  or  is  a  matter  of  indifference,  option  may  be 
allowed,  but  the  greatest  possible  effectiveness  of  the  teacher  in  the  posi- 
tion chosen  should  be  the  first  consideration  throughout. 

(5)  The  differentiation  of  curricula  according  to  the  position  in  view,  a  prin- 
ciple already  partly  recognized  for  primary  and  high  school  teachers, 
should  be  completely  worked  out,  and  should  be  applied  as  well  to  the 
middle  and  upper  grades,  and  to  the  work  of  school  administration. 

6.  Organization  of  Secondary  Curricula  for  the  Professional  Preparation  of 
Teachers  (see  Chapter  VII,  B,  pages  164-166, 173-177) 

(1)  As  long  as  it  is  necessary  to  offer  professional  preparation  for  teaching  to 
candidates  of  secondary  grade,  the  professional  courses  should  be  concen- 
trated in  the  fourth  year,  which  should  be  completely  devoted  to  them. 

(2)  The  principal  emphasis  in  this  year  of  professional  study  should  be  upon 
the  subject-matter  which  the  students  are  preparing  to  teach  and  upon 
participation  in  the  actual  work  of  elementary  teaching.  The  asubject- 
matter "  courses  should  include  industrial  arts,  music,  drawing,  and  ele- 
mentary agriculture  or  agricultural  nature  study.  The  participation  in 
teaching  should  extend  throughout  the  year.  It  should  involve  carefully 
graded  exercises  in  individual  and  group  instruction  in  the  schools  of  the 
community  in  which  the  training-class  is  located,  and  should  include 
a  period  of  not  less  than  two  weeks  responsible  teaching  in  a  one-room 
school. 

(3)  In  addition  to  the  work  in  subject-matter  and  in  teaching,  the  student 
should  have  a  course  in  elementary  pedagogy  including  the  simpler  prin- 
ciples of  educational  psychology,  a  course  in  rural  school  management, 
and  a  course  in  rural  life  problems. 

(4)  As  soon  as  possible,  the  work  of  this  fourth  year  should  be  transferred 
to  the  first  collegiate  year  at  a  normal  school.,  and  thereafter  expanded 
into  longer  curricula  of  two,  three,  and  ultimately  of  four  years  for  the 
professional  preparation  of  rural  school  teachers. 

c.  Organization  of  Collegiate  Curricula  for  the  Professional  Preparation  of 
Teachers  (see  Chapter  VII,  B,page  161) 

(1)  Curricula  of  collegiate  grade  that  have  for  their  purpose  the  preparation 
of  teachers  should  be  professionalized  throughout  in  the  sense  that  every 
course  should  be  chosen  with  specific  reference  to  the  contribution  that 
it  makes  to  the  teacher's  equipment.  This  would,  by  definition,  include 
courses  of  a  distinctly  "liberal"  type  (pages  166-1 72,  228-24(7). 

(2)  The  focal  characteristic  of  every  such  curriculum  should  be  participation 
in  the  actual  work  of  teaching;  consequently  the  training  school  should 


INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  393 

be  looked  upon  and  administered  as  the  central  feature  of  the  normal 
school  organization  (pages  19S,  224). 

(3)  No  professional  curriculum  for  teachers  should  look  exclusively  toward 
the  development  of  specific  skill  in  teaching.  It  should  aim  as  well  to  make 
the  teacher  professionally  intelligent:  competent  to  cooperate  in  the  con- 
struction of  large  educational  plans  and  policies,  or  at  least  to  measure 
the  full  significance  of  constructive  proposals.  This  broader  aim  of  ensur- 
ing professional  intelligence  will  naturally  receive  greater  emphasis  in  the 
longer  curricula,  but  it  should  find  a  definite  expression  even  in  the  brief- 
est preparation  (pages  179—182). 

(4)  The  so-called  "professional"  courses — psychology,  the  history  of  edu- 
cation, principles  of  teaching,  school  management,  practice  teaching,  and 
the  like — should  be  judged  not  only  by  the  extent  to  which  they  increase 
specific  skill  in  classroom  procedure,  but  also  by  their  contribution  to  the 
broader  professional  intelligence  and  insight  of  the  teacher.  In  connection 
with  the  latter  aim,  the  claims  of  biology,  sociology,  and  economics  should 
be  considered  as  well  as  those  of  the  professional  courses  now  recognized 
as  such  (pages  179-18$). 

(5)  The  sequence  of  professional  work  should  represent  a  progression  from 
the  concrete  courses  that  deal  primarily  with  classroom  procedure  to  the 
more  abstract  summarizing  and  systematic  courses.  The  latter  conse- 
quently will  appear  at  or  near  the  end,  and  will  be  elaborated  most  fully  in 
the  longer  curricula  (pages  183, 186, 189, 191,  224). 

(6)  A  general  course  in  "pure"  psychology  is  of  doubtful  value  as  an  intro- 
duction to  professional  study.  The  introductory  course  should  deal  rather 
with  the  concrete  applications  of  psychology  to  teaching  (educational 
psychology),  leaving  the  more  abstract  course  in  psychology  until  later. 
All  courses  should  exemplify  and  expressly  emphasize  the  psychological 
principles  which  they  involve  (pages  182,  183). 

(7)  A  general  course  in  the  history  of  education  is  probably  out  of  place  in 
one-year  or  two-year  curricula.  Such  a  course,  however,  should  serve  an 
important  purpose  in  one  of  the  later  years  of  the  longer  curricula.  Most 
courses  would  gain  both  in  force  and  coherence  by  briefly  tracing  the 
development  in  their  own  practice.  These  partial  glimpses  should  then  be 
gathered  firmly  into  a  complete  picture  by  a  systematic  course  in  educa- 
tional development  as  a  whole  (pages  184-187). 

(8)  The  courses  generally  known  as  principles  of  teaching  (general  method) 
and  school  management  will  yield  the  best  results  if  associated  closely 
with  the  work  in  participation  and  practice  teaching  (pages  189, 191). 

(9)  As  far  as  possible,  the  distinction  between  courses  in  "special  methods  of 
teaching"  and  courses  in  the  subject-matter  itself  should  be  eliminated. 
Every  professional  curriculum  should  embody  thorough  courses  of  dis- 
tinctly collegiate  character  in  all  of  the  subject-matter  that  the  student 
proposes  to  teach.  In  these  courses  the  specific  organization  of  materials 
for  elementary  or  secondary  teaching  should  be  fully  discussed,  and  the 
approved  methods  of  teaching  should  be  both  exemplified  and  justified. 


394  SUMMARY  OF  CONCLUSIONS 

All  teachers  of  the  so-called  academic  subjects  should  hold  a  direct  and 
responsible  relationship  to  the  training  school  (pages  199— 202,  227). 

(10)  In  each  specific  curriculum,  a  course  that  aims  to  organize  and  integrate 
the  work  of  that  field  for  which  the  curriculum  prepares  (primary  teach- 
ing, intermediate  grade  teaching,  junior  high  school  teaching,  and  so 
forth)  should  be  offered  in  the  final  year  (pages  224,  227). 

(11)  The  importance  of  the  training  school  in  the  scheme  of  curriculum  con- 
struction above  outlined  suggests  — 

(a)  Much  more  extensive  training-school  facilities  than  most  normal  schools 
now  provide;  intimate  and  to  some  extent  controlling  relations  should 
be  developed  with  the  local  public  school  system  (pages  192-197). 

(6)  Control  by  the  normal  school  of  the  principal  school  or  schools  in 
which  students  serve  as  teachers  for  practice.  This  should  not  preclude 
a  supplementary  use  of  other  schools  for  apprentice- teaching  (page  193). 

(c)  A  recognition  of  the  status  of  the  supervisor  and  critic  teacher  as  equal 
or  superior  to  that  of  the  "academic"  teacher  (page  213). 

(d)  The  unification  of  the  headship  of  the  education  department  with  the 
direction  of  the  training  school  and  of  practice  teaching  in  one  person. 

(<?)  The  safeguarding  of  the  interests  of  training-school  pupils  by  permit- 
ting not  more  than  three-fourths  and  preferably  not  more  than  one- 
half  of  the  teaching  to  be  done  by  student-teachers  (page  194). 

(f)  The  provision  of  a  separate  school  for  experimental  purposes,  and  the 
limitation  of  the  training  school  to  practice  teaching  and  teaching  for 
purposes  of  demonstration  (page  221). 

(g)  The  employment  of  teachers  of  educational  theory  and  teachers  of 
"academic"  subjects  as  supervisors  of  teaching  under  the  general  con- 
trol of  the  director  of  training  (page  202). 

(K)  A  systematic  gradation  of  the  work  in  observation,  participation, 
group-teaching,  and  responsible  room-teaching  (pages  224,  225). 

(12)  In  each  collegiate  curriculum  of  two  years  or  more,  a  term  or  a  semester 
should  be  left  after  the  period  of  responsible  room-teaching,  for  the  sum- 
marizing courses  mentioned  above  (pages  183,  224). 

(13)  Each  prescribed  professional  curriculum  should  have  in  view  the  sym- 
metrical development  of  an  individual's  knowledge  and  skill  as  required 
for  an  analyzed  purpose.  It  is  not  a  mere  series  of  independent  courses 
juxtaposed  by  title.  It  is  rather  one  complex,  carefully  devised  tool 
operated  by  different  instructors  to  a  common  end.  Its  success  depends 
upon  the  extent  to  which  these  instructors,  by  constant  study,  confer- 
ence, and  mutual  criticism,  learn  to  reenforce  arid  supplement  each  other 
in  the  content  of  their  teaching.  Differences  should  be  worked  out  in 
advance  or  omitted.  Each  curriculum  should  constitute  a  harmoniously 
interrelated  body  of  instruction  progressively  directed  toward  a  definite 
result  that  is  clearly,  understood  by  all. 

d*  Quality  of  Normal  School  Instruction  as  a  Factor  in  the  Curriculum : 


INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  395 

(1 )  The  actual  teaching  by  normal  school  instructors  should  be  looked  upon 
as  an  essential  part  of  the  professional  curricula  (page  £47). 

(2)  For  exemplary  effect,  every  effort  should  be  made  to  ensure  the  conditions 
that  will  result  in  superior  teaching  upon  the  part  of  normal  school  in- 
structors (pages  249-255). 

(a)  Provision  for  the  study  and  criticism  of  class  instruction  in  the  normal 
schools  should  be  devised  and  put  into  operation.  This  would  probably 
be  best  accomplished  by  a  special  adviser  serving  his  fellow  instructors  in 
the  relation  of  a  colleague,  or  thru  a  changing  committee  of  leading  in- 
structors (pages  £55-257). 

e.  Selection  and  Distribution  of  Curricula  (pages  258-265). 

(1)  The  present  administration  of  the  curricula  in  the  Missouri  normal  schools 
is  wasteful  and  ineffective,  due  to  duplication  of  classes,  to  an  extravagant 
elective  system,  and  to  the  complete  lack  of  the  intercollegiate  differen- 
tiation of  specialized  curricula.  Differentiation  and  concentration  of  pre- 
scribed curricula  in  accordance  with  the  previously  ascertained  needs  of 
the  state  are  suitable  remedies  for  the  existing  situation. 

3.  Staff  of  Instruction  (see  Chapter  VI,  A,  page  99;  Chapter  VIII,  A,  page  272) 

a.  The  Presidents  (pages  273-276). 

(1)  The  normal  school  is  weakened  by  the  excessive  prerogative  now  vested  in 
its  president.  Such  powers  as  are  now  exercised  by  him  should  be  shared 
partly  with  a  strengthened  faculty,  partly  with  other  presidents  in  coop- 
erative direction  of  all  the  teacher-training  agencies  of  the  state. 

b.  The  Teachers  (pages  99-116,  276-292). 

(1)  Normal  school  instructors  should  be  transformed  into  a  true  "faculty" 
by  classifying  them  according  to  merit  and  service,  and  by  allowing  them 
the  exercise  of  influence  characteristic  of  faculties  in  good  higher  institu- 
tions in  determining  the  educational  policy  of  the  school.  They  should  be 
absolutely  relieved  of  clerical  and  administrative  duties  (page  276). 

(2)  Their  training  should  conform  to  collegiate  standards,  and  as  these  are 
approximated,  their  formal  hours  of  class  work  should  be  correspondingly 
diminished  and  concentrated,  their  salaries  should  be  much  increased,  and 
their  tenure  of  position  should  be  made  permanent  (pages  105, 110, 114, 
280). 

(3)  Excellence  of  general  education  and  of  professional  training  and  experi- 
ence should  be  particularly  required  of  instructors  in  education,  of  super- 
visors of  practice  teaching,  and  of  critic  teachers;  these  should  be  the 
dominant  personal  elements  in  any  normal  school  faculty  (page  288). 

(4)  For  the  sake  of  teachers  in  service  the  summer  session  should  be  well 
staffed  with  competent  and  experienced  instructors.  They  should  be  as 
well  paid  as  teachers  in  the  regular  session.  Student  assistants  are  not 
desirable  as  instructors  in  professional  institutions  for  the  preparation  of 
teachers  (pages  286-292). 


396  SUMMARY  OF  CONCLUSIONS 

4.  The  Student  Body  (see  Chapter  VI,  B,  page  117;  Chapter  VIII,  B5  page  292). 

a.  The  conscious  effort  to  attract  or  to  retain  men  students  in  normal  schools 
at  a  sacrifice  of  a  clear  aim  and  of  an  intensive  organization  of  work  is  not 
in  the  best  interests  of  the  service  (pages  292-295). 

b.  The  secondary  instruction  offered  in  the  normal  schools  should  be  abandoned; 
young  pupils  should  be  returned  to  the  high  schools  for  preparation,  and 
state-supported  high  schools,  with  organization  wholly  separate  from  that  of 
the  normal  schools,  should  be  provided  for  older,  belated  students  (page  295). 

c.  Concessions  to  irregular  attendants  have  seriously  hampered  the  proper  work 
of  the  schools  and  should  not  continue.  Cooperation  among  the  schools  in  the 
adoption  of  prescribed  curricula  requiring  continuous  attendance  would  prove 
greatly  to  the  advantage  both  of  the  student  and  of  the  service  (page  305). 

d.  Admission  to  the  normal  schools  should  depend  on  either  a  credential  issued 
by  the  state  authority  for  the  inspection  and  approval  of  secondary  schools, 
or  an  adequate  examination  (page  312). 

e.  The  tendency  to  excessive  student  programs  would  be  most  effectually  reme- 
died by  resorting  to  fixed  curricula  based,  not  on  the  number  of  hours  or  points, 
but  on  the  successful  completion  of  a  certain  series  of  courses  taken  in  a  defi- 
nite combination  and  sequence  (pages  317-320). 

f.  Fully  to  serve  its  purpose,  the  normal  school  should  seek  to  become  a  selective 
institution.  In  determining  the  degrees  of  student  attainment  the  relaxation 
or  abandonment  of  thorough  examination  without  the  development  of  other 
more  accurate  and  effective  methods  of  measurement  is  a  mistake. "  Sizing 
up"  on  the  part  of  the  instructor  can   scarcely  be  considered  satisfactory 
(page  826). 

g.  The  maintenance  of  accurate,  significant  records  of  student  work  is  essential 
for  the  moral  health  of  the  institution.  The  administration  of  credit  should  be 
in  the  hands  of  disinterested  officers  acting  in  accordance  with  regulations  and 
policies  established  either  by  faculty  action,  or  preferably  by  the  joint  action 
of  all  responsible  authorities  of  teacher- training  institutions  (page  342). 

k.  (1)  Graduation  should  mark  the  natural  terminus  in  a  symmetrically  organ- 
ized course  of  training,  rather  than  the  achievement  of  a  given  number  of 
unrelated  credits  (page  344). 

(2)  Certification  should  be  a  matter  not  of  statute  but  of  carefully  planned 
administration  on  the  part  of  the  state  commissioner  of  education  in  coop- 
eration with  the  training  institutions.  It  should  depend  not  only  on  initial 
study  and  examination,  but  also  on  competent  scrutiny  of  ability  and 
growth  in  service  (pages  346-348). 

(3)  Appointments  to  positions  should  involve  aclearer  and  more  specific  know- 
ledge and  record  both  of  the  candidate  and  of  the  proposed  position  than 
are  at  present  attempted.  To  accomplish  this  the  normal  school  should 
undertake  to  establish  more  intimate  and  responsible  relations  with  its 
dependent  schools  than  now  exist.  The  institution's  obligations  are  not 
fully  discharged  until  a  properly  prepared  teacher  is  successfully  at  work. 


INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION  397 

i.  The  administrative  practices  of  an  institution,  like  the  patterns  of  instruc- 
tion set  by  its  staff,  are  as  vital  elements  in  curricula  as  are  any  formal  courses; 
they  should  be  models  of  good  judgment  and  skilful  planning  because  of  their 
inevitable  and  powerful  influence  upon  the  ideals  of  prospective  teachers  (pages 
353,  354). 


APPENDIX 


§  I.  COLLECTION  AND   TREATMENT   OF  DATA 

IS  specific  evidence  on  which,  the  conclusions  recorded  in  the  foregoing  pages  are 
based  has  usually  been  described  briefly  when  cited.  For  purposes  of  convenient  refer- 
ence in  considering  the  tables  that  follow,  a  general  account  of  these  sources,  both 
those  of  a  statistical  nature  and  others  of  a  personal  character,  is  given  here. 

A.  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

1.  Each  permanent  teacher  in  a  normal  school  or  city  training  school  was  asked  to 
fill  out  a  comprehensive  questionnaire  covering,  besides  certain  personal  facts,  a  large 
number  of  significant  iteins  in  his  training,  experience,  and  present  service.  With  few 
exceptions  all  teachers  regularly  connected  with  these  institutions  in  the  spring  of 
1915  returned  replies.1  See  pages  419  fF. 

£.  Special  instructors  engaged  only  for  the  summer  of  1916  were  studied,  as  a  sepa- 
rate group.  For  these  the  essential  facts  were  furnished,  not  by  the  individuals  them- 
selves, but  by  the  school  authorities.  Eighty-one  special  teachers  were  thus  reported 
upon ;  the  data  regarding  thirteen  others  could  not  be  secured.  See  pages  426,  4S27. 
3.  Normal  school  teachers  made  a  further  contribution  of  exceptional  value.  After 
the  preliminary  field  work  of  the  study  had  been  finished,  and  the  main  problems 
involved  had  become  clearly  defined,  a  folder  was  prepared  with  a  view  to  eliciting 
the  judgment  of  the  teachers  on  these  questions.  Participation  in  this  symposium, 
altho  wholly  voluntary,  was  very  general,  and  the  answers  received  were  highly  illu- 
minating. 

Similarly  sheets  were  issued  giving  opportunity  for  a  full  analysis  and  description 
of  each  course  taught  by  the  teacher.  Like  the  folders  just  described,  the  filling  of 
these  course  sheets  involved  much  painstaking  labor  on  the  part  of  the  instructor. 
Nevertheless,  they  were  returned  in  such  numbers  and  with  such  careful  detail  as  to 
provide  an  unquestionably  reliable  description  not  only  of  the  present  procedure  but 
of  the  needs  and  difficulties  with  which  the  representative  normal  school  teacher  in 
Missouri  is  at  present  confronted.  In  all  one  hundred  eleven  teachers,  or  well  over  half 
of  the  total  number,  supplied  these  critical  comments,  and  provided  detailed  analyses 
of  about  four  hundred  separate  courses.  The  names  of  the  teachers  who  rendered  this 
important  service  to  the  study  are  as  follows: 

KIHKSVIIXE 

J.  L.  Biggerstaff  Johannes  Goetze  Genevieve  Kirkbride 

W.  J.  Bray  T.  Jennie  Green  Florence  M.  Lane 

Mark  Burroug-hs  Edna  Hays  Grace  Lyle 

W.  A.  Clark  J.  M.  Heyd  Ralph  Noyer 

Byron  Cosby  Harriet  Howard  Lena  Patterson 

Laurie  Doolittle  C.  B.  Jaccard  Eudora  Helen  Savage 

Blanche  F.  Emery  G.H.Jamison  A.  P.  Settle 

Clarice  Evans  Ida  A.  Jewett  C.  M.  Wise 

Eugene  Fair  Warren  Jones  William  H.  Zeigel 

D.  K.  Gebhart 

W  AB.B.EXS  BTJK.G 

C  E  Ayres  V.  C.  Coulter  Noble  Lee  Garrison 

Lucy  Austin  Ball  H.  G.  Ellis  Annie  G.  Harris 

Myrtel  Casebolt  R-  A.  Gantz  M.  B.  Harwood 

1  Kirksville,  Springiield,  and  Harris  Teachers  College  were  fully  complete ;  at  Maryvilleone  Instructor  in  music,  at 
Cape  Girardeau  one  instructor  in  agriculture  and  two  in  music,  and  at  Warrensburg:  two  assistants  in  physical  edu- 
cation, one  in  mathematics,  one  intermediate  grade  supervisor,  and  the  former  president  failed  to  reply. 


APPENDIX 


Clara  Hinsdell 
M.  L.  James 
Mary  A.  Kennedy 
Lura  L.  Lemmon 


Seth  Babcock 
L.  E.  Brucher 
Walter  F.  Cobb 
Fred  H.  Doeden 
R.  S.  Douglas 
J.  A.  Dunn 
Mrs.  Elma  Ealy 
E.  A.  Hay  den 
B.  F.  Johnson 
Sadie  T.  Kent 


Virginia  J.  Craig 
Mary  Davis 
Elizabeth  Faulkner 
C.  B.  Gentry 
Clyde  Hill 
Estelle  Hinton 
Christiana  Hyatt 
Theo.  W.  H.  Irion 


Beulah  Branner 
T.  H.  Cook 
S.  E.  Davis 


Genevieve  Apgar 
J.  Andrew  Drushel 


WARREN-SB  URG  (continued) 

C.  F.  Martin 
W.  W.  Parker 

C.  A.  Phillips 

B.  A.  Pratt 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

Ida  M.  Knepper 
Myrtle  Knepper 
Charles  Lamb 
J.  C.  Logan 
A.  C.  Magill 
H.  Marston 
W.  W.  Martin 
H.  S.  Moore 
Minnie  M.  Newman 
Jeptha  Riggs 

SPRINGFIELD 

D.  T.  Kizer 
Adah  Lewis 

C.  E.  Marston 
Louise  Nixon 
M.A.  CTRear 
W.  J.  Osburn 
Sue  S.  Perkins 
S.  J.  Phelps 

MARYVILLE 

C.  A.  Hawkins 
H.  A.  Miller 
Mildred  Miller 

HARRIS  TEACHERS  COLLEGE 

Charles  M.  Gill 

E.  George  Payne 


H.  Pryor 

Mabel  M.  Richards 
William  Solomon 


A.  D.  Schuessler 
Frances  A.  Shambaugh 
Martha  Shea 
Ida  M.  Shilling 
J.  M.  Sitze 
Afton  Smith 
A.  W.  Vaughan 
Emily  Wilburn 
Natalie  Wilson 


Remain e  Roach 
James  W.  Shannon 
Blanche  Skinner 
A.  P.  Temple 
Lewis  F.  Thomas 
F.  F.  Thompson 
T.  J.  Walker 
Mary  A.  Woods 


George  Palfreyman 
F.  P.  Wagg 
M.  W.  Wilson 


Laura  J.  Soper 


On  still  another  blank  the  teachers  listed  their  literary  productions,  such  as  books, 
pamphlets,  magazine  and  newspaper  articles,  and  so  forth. 

Much  helpful  information  was  procured  from  the  presidents  of  the  institutions. 
The  authors  are  especially  indebted  to  President  W.  S.  Dearmont,  of  Cape  Girardeau, 
for  the  contribution  of  a  thoughtful  and  suggestive  review  of  the  whole  situation. 

4.  The  student  body  as  a  whole  was  studied  on  the  basis  of  the  complete  enrol- 
ment at  each  school  during  the  full  year  previous  to  the  beginning  of  the  enquiry, 
that  is,  during  the  school  year  1913-14.  All  the  information  available  at  each  school 
concerning  this  mass  of  over  seven  thousand  students  was  carefully  brought  together 
and  tabulated.  As  a  result,  the  main  facts  of  parentage  and  paternal  occupation, 
geographical  distribution,  previous  schooling  and  teaching  experience,  dates  and 
duration  of  local  attendance,  character  and  weight  of  program,  amount  and  nature  of 
credit  earned,  together  with  manifold  incidental  items  of  interest  came  clearly  to  view. 
Owing  to  the  homogeneous  character  of  the  student  body  at  Harris  Teachers  College, 
this  analysis  was  omitted  there.  See  pages  4$8, 4£9. 

5.  The  schools'  records  of  their  former  students  were  in  most  cases  very  meagre. 
It  was  consequently  necessary  to  supplement  these  by  applying  directly  to  the  stu- 
dents in  attendance  at  the  time  when  the  schools  were  visited  in  the  spring,  summer, 
and  fall  of  1915.  In  this  way  information  as  to  nationality,  father's  income,  size  and 
education  of  family,  early  schooling,  vocational  motive  and  intention,  self-help,  judg- 


COLLECTION  AND  TREATMENT  OF  DATA  408 

ments  as  to  effectiveness  of  normal  school  training,  and  some  other  important  phases 
of  student  life  was  secured.  Altho  this  enquiry  did  not  reach  the  total  enrolment  at 
any  school,  even  for  the  term  for  which  it  was  taken,  it  supplied  the  facts  for  between 
two  and  three  thousand  representative  students,  and  appeared  to  offer  a  secure  basis 
for  generalization.  The  proportions  of  the  current  attendance  at  the  various  schools 
that  furnished  usable  replies  to  the  questions  asked  were  as  follows :  Kirksville,  70  per 
cent  (558);  Warrensburg,  94  per  cent  (626);  Cape  Girardeau,  83  per  cent  (539); 
Springfield,  56  per  cent  (471);  and  Maryville,  90  per  cent  (259);  all  schools,  76  per 
cent  (men,  785  ;  women,  1668;  total,  2453).  See  pages  4£9ff. 

It  was  not  at  first  intended  to  put  these  questions  at  Harris  Teachers  College; 
cards  were  finally  distributed,  however,  at  a  single  gathering  of  students.  Without 
further  following-up,  replies  were  thus  secured  from  seventy-one  per  cent  (109)  of 
the  total  attendance. 

The  progress  of  this  analysis  of  the  student  body  from  point  to  point  revealed 
fresh  possibilities;  hence  certain  tables,  as  indicated  thereon,  actually  apply  to  only 
part  of  the  institutions,  altho  they  are  probably  representative  of  all. 

6.  Study  of  the  administrative  procedure  within  the  institutions  was  facilitated  by 
a  record  of  the  class  work  of  one  fii-il  year — 1915-16 — procured  from  each  school. 
On  a  separate  sheet  there  was  recorded  for  each  individual  who  gave  any  form  of  in- 
struction during  the  year,  the  name  and  date  of  each  term -course^ taught,  its  location 
in  the  curriculum,  its  value  in  hours  and  credit,  the  student  ratings  reported  in  it, 
and  the  monthly  and  annual  salary  of  the  teacher  giving  it.  With  trivial  exceptions, 
every  item  of  instruction  during  the  year  in  question  was  thus  reported  either  by  the 
registrars  or  by  competent  clerks  approved  by  the  school  authorities.  See  pages  423- 

425, 436. 

7.  The  composition  of  classes  was  examined  by  means  of  a  special  blank  laid  be- 
fore the  members  of  representative  classes  in  each  department.  This  blank  brought 
together  such  facts  concerning  age,  previous  training,  experience,  and  teaching  pur- 
pose, as  would  be  important  in  the  proper  classification  of  students.  All  told,  some 
three  hundred  twenty-five  representative  classes,  distributed  among  the  various 
schools,  were  thus  analyzed, 

8.  The  student  ratings  in  all  classes  for  the  entire  school  year,  1913-14,  were  as- 
sembled and  studied  with  a  view  to  determining  the  extent  to  which  the  schools 
exercised  a  selective  function  among  their  students.  This  material  permitted  like- 
wise a  comparison  of  the  different  departments  and  schools  with  a  similar  purpose. 
See  page  435. 

The  collegiate  ratings  of  students  prepared  largely  at  the  normal  schools  were 
compared  with  those  of  students  coming  from  high  schools  in  order  to  ascertain  which 
type  of  student  proved  most  successful  in  normal  school  studies.  The  records  of  some 
four  hundred  students  were  examined  with  the  results  indicated  on  page  1£2. 

9.  To  supplement  the  findings  as  to  current  procedure  in  the  schools,  it  proved 
desirable  to  trace  the  records  of  some  random  group  of  students  throughout  their 
school  careers.  For  this  purpose  the  school  histories  of  the  most  recent  groups  of 
graduates  were  worked  out  completely  on  a  form  showing  the -development,  duration, 
and  sequence  of  their  curricula.  Here  appeared  likewise  the  credit  allowed  for  pre- 
paratory credentials,  for  advanced  standing  earned  at  other  higher  institutions,  and 
special  allowances  made  on  various  other  considerations.  All  of  these  items  were  either 
compiled  or  checked  up  from  the  original  entries,  where  these  still  existed,  and  the 
longer  records  that  seemed  to  possess  special  significance  were  referred  to  the  students 


404  APPENDIX 

concerned  for  verification  and  comment.  In  all,  four  hundred  fifty-eight  student 
records  from  the  five  schools  were  worked  out  In  this  manner  and  given  careful  study. 
The  standardized  curricula  and  procedure  at  Harris  Teachers  College  made  such  in- 
vestigation there  unnecessary.  See  pages  411  ff. 

10.  Light  was  sought  on  the  quality  of  students  attending  the  normal  schools  thru 
enquiries  addressed  to  principals  of  high  schools  from  which  they  came.  One  hundred 
eighty  officers  in  as  many  different  high  schools  responded  by  rating  their  graduates 
both  in  studies  and  in  personal  qualities,  indicating  therewith  the  subsequent  occu- 
pation of  the  student,  whether  at  work  in  college,  normal  school,  business,  or  teach- 
ing, or  unemployed.  See  pages  121, 1SS. 

11.  In  the  study  of  the  curriculum  an  effort  was  made  to  ascertain  from  teachers 
in  service  the  features  of  their  training  that  appeared  to  them,  in  the  light  of  sub- 
sequent experience,  to  have  been  of  the  greatest  practical  benefit.  This  line  of  enquiry 
was  not  developed  as  fully  as  would  probably  have  been  justified  by  the  results.  Re- 
plies were  secured  from  one  hundred  sixty-three  teachers — graduates  of  the  schools 
under  examination.  See  page  442. 

12.  Owing  to  the  central  importance  of  the  trailing  department  in  a  normal  school, 
it  was  felt  that  any  study  that  omitted  a  careful  application  of  the  best  known  tests 
of  school  achievement  to  these  institutions  would  partially  fail  of  its  purpose.  Accord- 
ingly Professor  Dearborn  of  Harvard  University  with  five  trained  assistants  visited 
the  schools  in  May,  July,  and  October  of  1916,  and  gave  a  series  of  such  tests  as  have 
proved  most  reliable.  Because  of  the  small  size  of  some  of  these  departments  and  their 
constituent  classes,  the  results  were  not  always  completely  satisfactory;  they  were, 
however,  the  best  that  could  be  procured  under  the  circumstances.  See  pages  443  ff. 

13.  Altho  no  pains  were  spared  to  guide  and  verify  conclusions  by  means  of  the 
statistical  evidence  described  above,  the  study  placed  far  greater  dependence  upon  the 
personal  contact  of  its  staff  with  the  schools  themselves  and  with  the  conditions  sur- 
rounding their  work.  The  director  of  the  enquiry  was  in  the  state  with  his  assistants 
on  seven  different  occasions  for  a  total  of  nearly  nine  months,  and  Dr.  Bagley,  who 
studied  chiefly  the  curricula  and  the  teaching,  was  there  for  two  months.  Drs.  Mc- 
Murry  and  Strayer  supplemented  earlier  familiarity  with  the  field  by  fresh  visits 
lasting  together  several  weeks.  The  procedure  was  wholly  informal;  it  involved  visits 
and  careful  notes  in  many  classes ;  countless  interviews  at  free  hours  with  teachers  and 
officers  both  alone  and  in  groups,  as  well  as  frequent  conversations  with  students, 
alumni,  and  board  members  not  only  at  the  school  but  in  their  home  towns.  The  prob- 
lems confronting  the  normal  schools  in  their  several  districts  were  studied  by  visits 
to  the  remoter  portions  of  the  state,  as  well  as  by  prolonged  interviews  with  county 
superintendents,  occasionally  supplemented  by  a  visit  with  them  to  the  schools  under 
their  supervision.  The  superintendents  of  the  twenty-five  largest  towns  and  cities  in 
the  state  were  similarly  interviewed  in  person,  and  the  problem  of  teacher-training 
and  supply  was  discussed  from  their  varying  points  of  view. 

TREATMENT  OF  DATA 

The  statistical  material  gathered  from  the  normal  schools  alone  constituted  a  bulk 
of  over  fifteen  thousand  separate  blanks  and  questionnaires,  many  of  them  of  consid- 
erable length  and  of  a  complex  character  not  adapted  to  tabulating  machines.  Plain 
transcription  of  data  and  occasionally  simple  reckoning  was  done  at  the  schools  by 
competent  students  recommended  by  the  school  authorities  for  the  purpose,  under  the 
supervision  of  a  specially  trained  assistant  from  the  Foundation.  Data  showing  the 


COLLECTION  AND  TREATMENT  OF  DATA  405 

composition  of  classes  were  worked  up  in  the  department  of  Education  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois,  and  the  judgments  of  teachers  on  the  comparative  value  of  their 
training  courses  were  analyzed  at  Teachers  Colleges  New  York.  Otherwise  the  mate- 
rial was  handled  at  the  offices  of  the  Foundation.  A  force  of  assistants  first  went  rapidly 
thru  the  entire  mass  of  replies;  results  that  for  any  reason  appeared  to  have  no  value 
or  to  be  untrustworthy  were  then  discarded,  and  the  remainder  were  finally  revised 
and  checkedj  often  repeatedly,  with  the  utmost  care.  Wherever  applicable  these  data 
have  supplied  the  basis  for  the  statements  made  in  the  text,  and  a  small  portion  of 
them  appear  in  the  following  pages. 

While  the  Appendix  was  in  preparation  the  body  of  the  report  was  submitted  as  a 
whole  in  confidential  form  to  the  heads  of  each  of  the  institutions  concerned,  and  also 
to  the  president  of  the  state  university,  with  a  request  for  criticisms  or  corrections  in 
statements  of  fact.  Corrections  of  this  nature  that  proved  to  be  well  founded  have 
been  incorporated  in  the  text. 

B.  THE  TEACHING  POPULATION 

The  census  of  the  teaching  population  of  Missouri  was  undertaken  as  a  special 
enterprise  to  be  related  as  a  whole  to  the  complete  exposition  of  the  state's  agencies 
for  preparing  teachers.  In  the  present  treatment  of  the  five  state  normal  schools  and 
a  city  training  school,  it  has  only  a  partial,  albeit  an  exceedingly  important,  signi- 
ficance. Comprehensive  blanks,  with  differences  appropriate  to  the  various  classes  of 
workers,  were  issued  to  all  of  the  teachers  and  school  officers  in  the  state.  To  these 
requests  for  information  approximately  eighty-three  per  cent  of  the  more  than  nine- 
teen thousand  teachers  and  school  officers  in  the  state  in  1915  replied.  In  the  several 
classes  of  teachers  the  returns  were  as  follows:  %eporiing  Proportion 


Teachers  in  rural  schools  and  of  more  than  three  grades  elsewhere  10,515  8,277  79 

Teachers  In  graded  elementary  schools  outside  of  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  3,650  2,993  82 

Teachers  in  elementary  schools  in  St.  Louis  1,789  1,560  87 

Teachers  in  elementary  schools  in  Kansas  City  779  737  95 

Elementary  school  principals,  St.  Louis  92  77  84 

Elementary  school  principals,  Kansas  City  61  51  84 

Teachers  in  classified  high  schools  outside  of  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  1,164  1,074  92 

Teachers  in  high  schools  in  St.  Louis  343  S29  96 

Teachers  in  high  schools  in  Kansas  City  245  239  98 

City  and  town  superintendents  5S8  ^  ^ 

County  superintendents  _  !!f  ...........  1I4  12§ 

Total  19*290  16>895  83 

By  the  use  of  these  data  it  has  been  possible  to  work  out  an  approximately  accu- 
rate estimate  of  the  number  of  new  teachers  required  in  a  given  year,  and  to  deter- 
mine their  source,  age,  and  training.  Furthermore,  the  present  contribution  of  each 
school  to  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  the  state,  both  in  kind  and  number,  appears 
clearly.  These  facts  are  accurate  for  a  single  year  only,  but  with  such  numbers  they 
are  undoubtedly  representative  of  the  general  situation,  and  are  sufficiently  complete 
to  illustrate  well  the  data  that  should  be  constantly  available  in  a  well-managed  state 
department. 

The  material  thus  brought  together  was  analyzed  and  partially  interpreted  at  the 
statistical  offices  maintained  by  the  Foundation,  during  the  progress  of  the  study, 
at  Lawrence,  Kansas,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Homer  W.  Josselyn.  For  the  needs  of 
the  present  volume  having  to  do  with  the  normal  schools,  the  required  results  were 
elaborated  chiefly  at  New  York. 


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TABLE  2.  COLLEGIATE  OFFERINGS  IN  VARIOUS  NORMAL  SCHOOL  DEPARTMENTS,  1917-18 


KlRKSVILLE 

WAKRENSBURG 

C.GlRARDEAD 

SPRINGFIELD 

MARY  VILLE 

Extreme 

JLv. 

Far. 

Teach-  Sem. 

Teach-    Sem. 

Teach-  Sem. 

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Teach-  Sem, 

Sem. 

Sem. 

ers  Hours 

ers     Hours 

ers    Hours 

ers     Hours 

ers  HOUIS 

If  ours 

Hours 

Education 

91      52.5 

12           87.5 

11          76 

10          55 

6        52.5 

647 

35 

English 

5        70 

5           80 

4          793 

5          45 

3        60 

66.9 

35 

Ancient  Languages 

1        425 

1           35 

1          91.3 

2          42.5 

1         47.5 

51.8 

56.3 

Modern  Foreign  Languages 

2         57.5 

1           46.2 

1          527 

2          40 

1        32.5 

45.8 

25 

History  and  Political  and 

Social  Science 

6       100 

5           70 

3          56 

4          37.5 

3        50 

627 

62.5 

Mathematics 

4        37.5 

3           32.5 

2          22 

1          32.5 

3        25 

29.9 

15.5 

Physics  and  Chemistry 

2        47.5 

3           37.5 

2          32 

1          15 

1        32.5 

32.9 

32.5 

Biological  Sciences 

2        12.5 

3           25 

1          22 

1          15 

1        20 

189 

10 

Geography,  Physiography 

1        12.5 

3             5 

1            4 

1            7.5 

1        17.5 

93 

13.5 

Agriculture 

2        45 

3           27.5 

1          20 

1          25 

1         20 

27.5 

25 

Fine  Arts 

2        51.2 

2           32.5 

2            8 

1          22.5 

1         35 

298 

43.2 

Music 

4        48.8 

4            48.8 

5          11.7 

6          85 

1         25 

43.9 

73.3 

Commerce 

2        27.5 

1           26.2 

1          34 

1          15 

1         30 

26.5 

19 

Industrial  Arts 

2        27.5 

1           41.8 

1          28 

1          32.5 

2        22.5 

30.5 

193 

Home  Economics 

2        40 

2           35 

2          29.7 

1          275 

1         35 

334 

12.5 

Library  Economy 

—          7.5 

—           — 

4 

—          — 

—          12 

2.5 

63 

Physical  Training 

2        188 

2            17.5 

2            5 

2            88 

3         10 

12 

13.8 

Total 

48       698.8 

51          648 

40         576  7 

39        506.3 

SO      516.2 

589 

192.5 

Ratio3 

14.6 

12.7 

14.4 

13 

172 

TABLE  3.  INDIVIDUAL  CURRICULA  ILLUSTRATIVE  OF  THE  OPERATION  OF 
THE  ELECTIVE  SYSTEM  IN  MISSOURI  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

CASE  1.  This  is  a  fairly  good  example  of  an  individual  curriculum  based  upon  a 
group-requirement  system.  There  are  appropriate  sequences  in  courses  that  rigor- 
ously demand  suitable  prerequisitess  such  as  mathematics  and  chemistry,  but  not  else- 
where; the  practice  teaching,  necessarily  limited  to  elementary  school  classes,  has  been 
preceded  neither  by  a  study  of  elementary  subject-matter  nor  by  a  course  in  "spe- 
cial methods;"  what  is  apparently  required  work  in  history  is  limited  to  ancient  his- 
tory; the  two-term  course  in  the  history  of  education  Is  taken  with  the  terms  reversed; 
and  the  course  in  school  management  comes  at  a  most  inappropriate  time.  It  seems, 
indeed,  that  the  professional  work  is  inserted  wherever  it  will  fit,  without  the  slightest 
reference  to  its  bearing  upon  other  courses.  It  will  be  noted,  too,  that  while  the  stu- 
dent has  apparently  intended  to  teach  chemistry  and  mathematics,  he  actually  teaches 
physics,  in  which  he  has  had  but  three  terms  of  collegiate  work;  physiography,  in 
which  he  has  had  but  two  terms  of  secondary  work;  and  agriculture,  for  -which  his 
equipment  consists  of  two  summer-quarter  courses. 

Mr.  A.  entered  the  normal  school  in  the  fall  of  1908,  and  was  in  residence  during  the  remainder  of 
the  academic  year,  and  during  the  first  two  quarters  of  the  following  year.  He  left  in  the  spring,  pre- 
sumably to  teach,  but  returned  in  the  fall  for  a  fuU  year's  work,  followed  by  a  summer  quarter.  He 
taught  a  rural  school  for  twelve  weeks  in  the  fall,  returning  for  the  second  and  third  terms  and  the  sum- 
mer quarter.  During  the  following  year  he  also  remained  in  residence  for  three  terms  and  the  summer 
quarter.  He  received  the  degree  of  B.S.  in  Education  at  the  close  of  this  period  (1913),  and  became 
a  teacher  of  physics,  agriculture,  and  physical  geography  in  a  high  school.  His  courses  during  this 
period  were  as  follows : 

1  Throughout  the  table  the  number  of  teachers  includes  all  who  give  instruction  in  the  department.  In  many 
cases  the  same  teachers  give  instruction  also  in  other  subjects,  hence  the  total  is  usually  smaller  than  the  sum  of 
the  groups. 

2  This  ratio  ignores  the  frequently  considerable  amount  of  secondary  instruction  required  of  these  same  teachers. 


412 


APPENDIX 


First  term 

English  grammar  &  composi- 
tion 

Elementary  English  &  Ameri- 
can literature 

Ancient  history  (high  school 
course) 

Algebra 

Gymnasium 


First  term 

Elementary  psychology 
Rhetoric 
Plane  geometry 
Physical  geography 
Vocal  music 


First  term 
Practice  teaching 
Trigonometry 
Solid  geometry 
Chemistry 


Summer ',  1911 
English  literature 
Analytical  geometry 
College  physics 
Chemistry 

Spring,,  1912 
History  of  education 
German 
Calculus 
College  physics 

Winter,  1913 
History  of  education 
Nineteenth  century  poetry 
German 
Organic  chemistry 


FIRST  YEAR 

Second  term 

English  grammar  &  composi- 
tion 

Elementary  English  &  Ameri- 
can literature 

Ancient  history  (collegecourse) 

Civil  government 

Algebra 

Gymnasium 

SECOND  YEAH 

Second  term 
Principles  of  teaching 
Rhetoric 
Plane  geometry 
Physical  geography 
Manual  training 

THIRD  YEAR 

Second  term 
Rhetoric 

American  constitution 
Trigonometry 
Chemistry 
Manual  training 


Fall,  1911 
(Student teaches  a  rural  school) 


Summer, 
English  literature 
German 
Calculus 
Applied  chemistry 

Spring,  1913 

Nineteenth  century  poetry 
German 
American  government  and 

politics 
Organic  chemistry 


Third  term 
Elementary  English  &  American 

literature 

Ancient  history  (college  course) 
Civil  government 
Algebra 
Gymnasium 


Third  term 

(Student  dropped  out,  presumably 
to  teach) 


Third  term 
School  management 
American  constitution 
Political  economy 
Analytical  geometry 
High  school  physics 
Chemistry 

Winter,  1912 
Applied  chemistry  (two  courses) 


Fall,  1912 

School  administration 
Nineteenth  century  poetry 
German 
Organic  chemistry 

Summer,  1913 
English  literature 
Electricity 
Soil  management 
Com 


CASE  %.  When  it  is  remembered  that  the  sixty-hour  diploma  designates  ability  to 
teach  in  the  elementary  school,  the  inadequacy  of  this  student's  program  is  obvious. 
Miss  B.,  it  will  be  noted,  takes  a  full  year  of  ancient  history  in  the  normal  school.  The 
records  show,  however^  that  she  has  already  presented  a  unit  of  ancient  history  for 
entrance,  and  that  this  is  the  only  course  in  history  presented  for  entrance.  Conse- 
quently, she  has  in  all  two  years  of  ancient  history,  two  terms  of  English  history,  and 
only  one  term  of  American  constitutional  history  to  prepare  her  to  teach  United 
States  history  in  the  elementary  school.  She  was  admitted  to  practice  teaching  in 
the  third  term  after  having  completed  but  one  course  that  directly  prepared  for 
practice  teaching — and  this  was  taken  two  terms  earlier.  Other  professional  courses 
("methods"  courses)  she  took  in  the  later  summer  quarters,  presumably  after  her 
experience  in  teaching  had  shown  her  the  need  of  such  work. 


CURRICULA 


413 


Miss  B.  entered  the  normal  school  in  the  fall  of  1911.  She  presented  for  entrance  12  j  high  school  units. 
She  remained  in  residence  during  the  three  terms  of  the  academic  year  and  the  following  summer 
quarter.  She  apparently  taught  for  the  two  years  following,  returning  for  the  summer  quarters  of  1913 
and  1914.  At  the  close  of  the  latter  quarter  she  received  the  sixty-hour  diploma.  The  work  of  the  six 
terms  during  which  she  was  in  residence  appears  below : 


First  term 

Teaching  of  language  and  lit- 
erature 
Rhetoric 
Ancient  history 
Vocal  music 
Chorus 
High  school  Latin 

Summer  quarter,  1912 
Methods  of  teaching  music 
Teaching  of  algebra  and  arith- 
metic 

"Teachers'  special" 
American  literature 
Shakespeare 


FIRST  YEAR 

Second  term 

Nineteenth  century  literature 
Advanced  composition  and  ar- 
gumentation 
Ancient  history 
Drawing 
Chorus 
High  school  Latin 

Summer  quarter ',  1913 
Eighteenth  century  prose 
American  constitutional  his- 
tory 

English  history 
Vocal  music 
Harmony 


Third  term 
Practice  teaching 
History  of  education 
American  literature 
Ancient  history 
Drawing  (two  courses) 
Chorus 
High  school  Latin 

Summer  quarter,  1914 
Nineteenth  century  literature 
Library  economy 
American  government  and  pol- 
itics 

English  history 
Harmony 


CASE  8.  The  inadequacy  of  this  curriculum,  likewise,  as  a  preparation  for  elemen- 
tary school  teaching  is  apparent.  The  student  is  plunged  at  the  very  outset  into  re- 
sponsible practice  teaching,  undertaking  at  the  same  time  two  courses  which  are  sup- 
posed both  to  be  consecutive  and  to  be  prerequisites  to  such  teaching.  She  is  appar- 
ently ambitious  to  teach  Latin  and  history  in  the  high  school,  altho  she  accepts  a 
sixty-hour  diploma  "designating  ability"  to  teach  in  the  elementary  school.  For  some 
reason  she  elects  a  full  year  of  agriculture  and  a  term  of  manual  training.  It  is  possi- 
ble— and  indeed  probable — that  these  elections  are  made  simply  and  solely  to  meet 
group  requirements.  Certainly,  the  wisdom  of  a  group-requirement  system  that  per- 
mits and  apparently  encourages  a  program  of  this  type  is  seriously  to  be  questioned. 

Miss  C.  B.  entered  the  normal  school  in  the  fall  of  1909.  She  remained  in  residence  for  two  terms.  She 
returned  in  the  summer  quarter  of  1911,  and  remained  for  this  and  the  three  succeeding  terms.  The 
work  for  the  sixty-hour  diploma  was  completed  in  the  summer  quarters  of  1913  and  1914.  She  pre- 
sented fifteen  secondary  units  for  entrance.  The  courses  completed  in  the  normal  school  follow  : 


First  term 

Elementary  psychology 
Principles  of  teaching 
Practice  teaching 
Trigonometry 
Vocal  music 


FIRST  YEA.U 

Second  term 
Principles  of  teaching 
Teaching  of  language  and  lit- 
erature 
Trigonometry 
Gymnasium 


Summer  quarter,  1911 
Vergil 

Ancient  history 
History  of  mathematics 
Agriculture 


First  term,  1911 
Practice  teaching 
American  literature 
Cicero 
Sallust 
Ancient  history 


SECOKD  YEAH 

Second  term^  1911 
Advanced  composition  and  ar- 
gumentation 
Ovid 

English  history 
Horace 
Manual  training 


Third  term, 
Advanced  composition  and  ar- 
gumentation 
Vergil 

English  history 
Farm  crops 


414  APPENDIX 

Summer  quarter,  1913  Summer  quarter,  1914 

Teaching  of  Latin  History   of  education  (two 
American  literature  terms'  work  at  the  same 

English  history  time) 

Cereals  American  literature 

Vocal  music  Library  economy 

CASE  4.  It  would  be  difficult  to  determine  from  an  inspection  of  this  program  what 
this  prospective  teacher  intends  to  teach.  Altho  she  presented  for  entrance  nearly  two 
years'  work  in  algebra,  we  find  her  electing  a  full  year  of  algebra  in  the  normal  school 
and  receiving  credit  for  it  toward  the  fifteen  needed  units  of  secondary  work.  She  takes 
a  term  of  Latin  and  a  term  of  drawing.  A  collegiate  professional  course  in  the  teach- 
ing of  English  is  taken  with  only  high  school  English  as  a  background.  A  term  of 
ancient  history  of  high  school  grade  is  inserted  between  two  terms  of  oriental  history 
of  collegiate  grade,  in  the  first  term  of  which  she  had  apparently  been  condi  tioned. 
A  single  term  of  chemistry  in  the  final  summer  quarter  is  paralleled  by  two  courses 
in  household  science  and  one  course  in  home  nursing.  Aside  from  chemistry,  twelve 
weeks1  work  in  "corn"  and  the  same  amount  of  time  spent  on  "cereals55  (perhaps  in- 
cluding "corn"")  apparently  meet  the  "group  requirements"  in  science. 

Miss  D.  entered  the  normal  school  in  the  summer  quarter  of  1907.  Her  high  school  credits  aggregated 
only  13J  units;  hence  her  six  terms'  work  at  the  normal  school  include  several  secondary  courses.  Five 
years  elapsed  between  her  first  term's  work  in  1907  and  her  second  term's  work  in  the  summer  of  1912. 
After  finishing  a  quarter,  she  taught  (apparently)  for  one  term,  reentering  for  the  second  and  third 
terms  of  1912-13,  and  remaining  for  the  summer  quarter  of  1913.  After  another  year  of  teaching  (ap- 
parently), she  returned  to  finish  the  work  for  the  sixty-hour  diploma  in  the  summer  of  1914.  Her 
courses  at  the  normal  school  were  the  following: 


Summer  quarter,  1907                        Summer  quarter.,  1912  Winter  •, 

Oriental  history  (collegiate)              Psychology  Teaching  of  history- 

English  (high  school)                        School  economy  Principles  of  teaching 

Latin  (first  year  high  school)           Teaching  of  English  Teaching  of  arithmetic  and 

Music                                                  Sanitation  algebra 

Drawing  Practice  teaching 

Music  Algebra  (high  school) 

Spring,  1913  Summer,  1913  Summer,  1914 

Practice  teaching  Oriental  history  (making  up          High  school  curriculum  prob- 

Library  economy  condition  ?)  lems 

Advanced  composition  Practice  teaching  Chemistry 

Corn  School  administration  Food  preparation 

Ancient  history  (high  school)  Cereals  Household  decoration 

Algebra  (high  school)  Algebra  (high  school)  Home  nursing 

Gymnasium  Gymnasium 

CASE  5.  From  several  points  of  view,  this  program  is  much  better  than  any  of  those 
that  have  been  previously  discussed.  The  academic  subjects  are  in  the  main  well  artic- 
ulated and,  generally  speaking,  each  is  extended  over  a  period  that  is  long  enough 
to  ensure  a  dividend  from  the  time  and  energy  expended.  But  the  program  is  not 
satisfactory  as  a  preparatory  curriculum  for  elementary  teaching.  In  the  four  years' 
work  leading  to  the  sixty-hour  diploma  the  only  elementary  school  subjects  are  Eng- 
lish, American  history,  arithmetic,  drawing,  and  music,  and  in  each  of  these  cases, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  English,  the  courses  taken  are  quite  inadequate.  One 
is  tolerably  certain  that  this  student,  while  willing  to  teach  in  the  elementary  school 
as  a  means  to  an  end,  is  really  looking  forward  to  high  school  teaching.  Whatever 
work  is  done  in  preparation  for  elementary  teaching,  therefore,  is  quite  likely  to  be 
done  more  or  less  perfunctorily. 


CURRICULA 


415 


Miss  E.  enters  the  normal  school  in  the  fall  of  1908,  and  is  in  residence  during  the  succeeding  academic 
year.  She  apparently  teaches  for  a  year,  returning  in  the  fall  of  1910  and  remaining  thru  the  winter 
and  spring  into  the  summer  quarter  of  1911.  She  remains  out  of  school  until  the  spring  of  1912,  when 
she  returns  for  the  spring  and  summer  quarters.  She  repeats  this  process  in  1913,  and  finally  com- 
pletes the  work  for  the  sixty-hour  diploma  in  the  summer  of  19 14-.  About  one-third  of  her  preparatory 
work  is  done  in  secondary  classes  of  the  normal  school  Her  program  follows : 


Fall,  1908 
English 

Beginning  Latin 
Algebra 
Music  (sight  reading) 

Fall,  1910 
English  literature 
Caesar 
Algebra 
Zoology 
Civil  government 


CHIEFLY  SECONDARY  WORK 

Winter,  1908 
English 
Latin 

Plane  geometry 
Music  (sight  reading) 
Manual  arts 

Winter,  1910 

Principles  of  teaching  (collegi- 
ate) 

Rhetoric 
Caesar 

European  history 
Algebra 
Zoology 


Spring,  1909 
English 
Latin 

Plane  geometry 
Psychology  (collegiate) 
American  history 


g,  1911 
Zoology  (collegiate) 
Rhetoric 
Caesar 

European  history 
Civil  government 
Physiology 


Summer,  1911 

Teaching  arithmetic  and  alge- 
bra (collegiate) 
Practice  teaching 
School  economy 
Solid  geometry 
Drawing  (secondary) 

Spring*  1913 
Vergil 

Mediaeval  history 
Trigonometry 
History  of  education 


CHIEFLY  COLLEGIATE  WORK 

Spring,  1912 
School  administration 
English  literature 
Cicero 
College  algebra 


Summer,  1913 
English  literature 
Mediaeval  history 
Trigonometry 
Physics 


Summer,  1912 
English  literature 
Vergil 

Mediaeval  history 
College  algebra 


Summer,  191$. 
Practice  teaching 
History  of  education 
Library  economy 
Analytical  geometry 
Physics 


CASE  6.  This  program  illustrates  another  attempt  to  kill  two  occupational  birds 
with  one  educational  stone.  The  student  apparently  wished  to  earn  a  certificate  for  ele- 
mentary teaching,  and  took  two  terms'  work  at  the  normal  school  to  enable  her  to  do 
so.  One-half  of  the  twelve  courses  that  formed  her  program  during  these  two  terms 
have  no  conceivable  relation  to  elementary  school  teaching,  yet  she  was  not  only  per- 
mitted to  take  these  courses,  but  was  also  given  credit  for  them  toward  an  elementary 
certificate. 

Miss  F.  spent  two  terms  in  the  normal  school,  entering  with  advanced  standing  from  one  of  the  col- 
leges. She  received  the  thirty-hour  diploma  at  the  close  of  the  second  quarter.  Toward  this  diploma 
she  was  granted  credit  for  the  following  courses  taken  in  college :  psychology,  ethics,  Bible,  history 
of  American  literature,  German  (first  year),  vocal  music,  food  preparation. 
Her  normal  school  work  comprised  the  following  courses : 


Spring,  1914 
Principles  of  teaching 
Teaching  of  history 
Teaching  of  English 
Library  economy 


Summer*  1914 
Practice  teaching 
Teaching  of  arithmetic 
Bookkeeping  (two  courses) 
Typewriting  (three  courses) 
Shorthand 


416  APPENDIX 

CASES  7,  8,  9.  The  character  of  the  courses  elected  in  the  thirty-hour  curriculum  is 
even  more  important  than  the  character  of  the  work  elected  in  the  sixty-hour  curricu- 
lum. The  cases  cited  here  are  not  exceptional ;  they  are  rather  fairly  typical  of  the 
thirty -hour  elections  in  at  least  three  of  the  Missouri  schools.  The  brief  time  afforded 
by  one  year's  training  beyond  the  high  school  (the  last  case  cited  represents  indeed 
only  two  terms  of  collegiate  work)  should  not  be  wasted  thru  divided  interest  and  a 
plurality  of  vocational  objectives.  If  it  is  necessary  to  prepare  elementary  teachers 
upon  so  slender  a  basis  as  one  yearns  training,  there  can  certainly  be  no  justification 
for  not  concentrating  this  training  upon  the  problems  that  the  elementary  teacher 
must  face  and  solve. 

Miss  G.  received  the  thirty-hour  diploma  in  1914.  Fourteen  courses  of  collegiate  grade  formed  the 
basis  of  the  credits  upon  which  the  diploma  was  issued.  Six  of  these  fourteen  courses  were  German 
(three  courses),  Latin  (Ovid  and  Sallust),  photography. 

Miss  H.  was  granted  the  thirty-hour  diploma  in  1914,  and  had  earned  in  addition  fifteen  semester 
hours  toward  the  sixty-hour  diploma.  Twelve  and  one-half  hours  are  represented  by  ancient  history, 
mediaeval  history,  trigonometry,  zoology. 

Mr.  I.  received  the  elementary  certificate  in  1914.  Out  of  eight  courses  of  collegiate  grade  for  which 
credit  was  granted  for  this  certificate,  four  were  college  algebra,  analytical  geometry,  college  physics 
(two  courses). 

CASE  10.  This  student's  career  illustrates  clearly  the  actual  working  out  of  the  the- 
ory upon  which  the  curricula  of  the  Missouri  normal  schools  are  constructed.  Mr.  J. 
receives  the  elementary  certificate  after  completing  in  the  normal  school  some  thirty- 
eight  courses,  all  of  secondary  grade.  He  had  previously  taught  in  rural  and  village 
elementary  schools,  but  now  with  a  certificate  from  the  normal  school,  he  is  acceptable 
for  appointment  in  a  small  high  school.  Attendance  for  five  more  terms  at  the  normal 
school  brings  him  to  the  "life  certificate"  and  the  degree  of  Ped.B.  With  this  cer- 
tificate, he  receives  an  appointment  as  an  elementary  teacher  in  a  small  city  system, 
altho  the  normal  school  has  prepared  him  only  very  meagrely  for  the  responsibili- 
ties of  this  position.  Still  further  work — three  terms  in  the  normal  school  and  three 
years'  attendance  upon  Saturday  classes  at  a  neighboring  university  —  earns  for  him 
the  A.B.  degree  which  is  granted  by  the  normal  school.  He  is  now  an  elementary 
school  principal  in  a  large  city  system, — again  a  position  for  which  the  courses  that 
he  took  in  the  professional  school  have  given  him  but  slight  training.  These  courses 
aggregated  sixty-seven  in  number,  and  were  rewarded  at  three  successive  points  by  di- 
plomas or  degrees  each  licensing  the  holder  to  teach  in  any  public  school  of  the  state. 

Mr.  J.  received  the  A.B.  degree  from  one  of  the  normal  schools  in  1912.  The  courses  which  he  com- 
pleted and  the  kind  of  teaching  which  he  did  in  the  interims  of  normal  school  residence  are  shown 
in  the  following  tabular  statement : 

Summer  quarter,  1904-  School  year,  1904-05  Summer,  1905  Fall*  1905 

Oriental  history  Teacher,  rural  school          English  English 

Physical  geography  Latin   (first  year,   high  Latin 

school)  American  history 

Algebra  (first  year,  high  Plane  geometry 

school)  Reading  and  speaking 

Reading  and  voice  cul-  Gymnasium 

ture 
Manual  training 


CURRICULA 


Winter,  1905 
Teacher,  Grades  IV- 
VIII,  village  school 


Winter,  1906 
Rhetoric 
Latin  (Caesar) 
Solid  geometry 
Reading  and  voice  cul- 
ture 


Summer,  1908 
Practice  teaching 
English  fiction 
Shakespeare 
Latin  (Caesar) 
Physical  geography 


Spring,  1909 
Mediaeval  and  modern 

history 
College  algebra 


School  year,  1910-11 
Elementary  school  prin- 
cipal, large  city  sys- 
tem; student,  Satur- 
day classes,  neighbor- 
ing university 


Spring,  1906 
Pedagogy 

English 

Latin 


Spring,  1907 

Practice  teaching 

History  of  English  liter- 
ature 

Latin  (Caesar) 

American  constitutional 
history 

Trigonometry 

Manual  training 

Fall,  1908 

History  of  education 
Mediaeval  and  modern 

history 

Advanced  literature 
Physics 
Library  economy 

Summer,  1909 
School  administration 
American  literature 
Library  (two  courses?) 
Mediaeval  and  modern 

history 
Trigonometry 
(Degree  B.Pd.  granted, 

August,  1909) 

Summer,  1911 
German  (two  courses) 
College  physics 


Summer,  1906 
Pedagogy 
Rhetoric 
Roman  history 


Summer,  1907 
Pedagogy 
Surveying  (three 

courses) 
(Elementary  certificate 

granted,  August, 

190T) 


Winter,  1908 
Practice  teaching 
History  of  education 
History  of  American 
literature 


School  year,  1909-10 

Eighth  grade  teacher, 

small  city  system 


School  year, 
Elementary  school  prin- 
cipal, large  city  sys- 
tem; student,  Satur- 
dayclasses,  neighbor- 
ing university 


Fall,  190G 
Psychology 
Rhetoric 
Latin  (Caesar) 
Plane  geometry 
Manual  training 

School  year,  1907-08 
Teacher  of  all  first-year 
subjects  in  a  small 
high  school 


Jan.  15- Apr.  15, 1909 
Teacher  of  English  and 
mathematics  in  a 
small  high  school 


Summer,  1910 
Latin  (Cicero) 
German 
College  physics 
Typewriting 


Summer,  1912 
German 

Latin  (Sallust  and 
Cicero) 


TABLE  4.  CITY  TRAINING  SCHOOL  CURRICULA 
THE  HARRIS  TEACHERS  COLLEGE  CURRICULUM  FOR  KINDERGARTNERS1 


First  Semester 

Drawing 

English 

Geography 

Hygiene 

Music 

Penmanship 

Physical  training 

Science 

Kindergarten 

Observation  (kindergarten) 


Semester  hours 

4 


Second  Semester 

Drawing 

History 

Music 

Observation  (kindergarten) 

Physical  training 

Primary 

Psychology 

Reading 

Science 

Kindergarten 


Semester  hours 


5 
1 
3 

A 

27 


1  From  the  Report  of  the  St.  Louis  Board  of  Education,  for  1914-15,  pages  100, 101. 


418 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  4  (continued).  A.  THE  HARRIS  TEACHERS  COLLEGE  CURRICULUM  FOE  KINDERGABTNEKS 


TJiird  Semester 
Apprentice  work 


Fourth  Semester 

Full  time  Child  psychology 

Drawing 
English 

History  of  education 
Music 

Physical  training 
Theory  of  education 
Kindergarten 
Primary 


1 
4 

2 
1 
5 

5 

J? 

25 


B.  THE  KANSAS  CITY  TEACHER-TRAINING  CURRICULUM 


First  Semester 
Biology 
Psychology 
Drawing 

Physiology  and  hygiene 
Songs  and  games 


First  Semester 
First  T&n  Weeks 

Primary  or  upper  grade  methods 
Physiology  and  hygiene 
School  management 
History 

Physical  education  or  music 
Arithmetic 


Teaching 


Second  Ten  Weeks 


FIRST  YEAR 


5  hours 
3 

3 
3 

J? 
20 


Second  Semester 
Geography 
General  methods 
Literature  and  reading 
Grammar  and  composition 
Music 


SECOND  YEAR 

Second  Semester 
Third  Ten  Weeks 
3  hours  American  history 

%  Physiology  and  hygiene 

3  School  administration 

5  Sociology 

2  Arithmetic 

3  Physical  education  or  music 

20 

Fourth  Ten  Weeks 
Full  time  Community  civics 

Nature  study 
History  of  education 
Current  educational  theory 
Literature  or  elective 


3  or 


5  hours 

4 
5 
3 

__3 
20 


5  hours 

2 

3 

5 
3 


4>  hours 

3 

3 

5 
3 


18  or! 


III.  DATES  OF  THE  FIRST  ESTABLISHMENT  OF 
STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 


Massachusetts 

1838 

Maine                   1863 

Texas 

1879 

Washington 

1890 

New  York 

18442 

Indiana                1865 

North  Dakota 

1881 

Oklahoma 

1891 

Connecticut 

1849 

Wisconsin            1865 

South  Dakota 

1881 

Idaho 

1893 

Michigan 

1849 

Vermont              1866 

Oregon 

1883 

Montana 

1893 

Rhode  Island 

1852 

Delaware             1866 

Virginia 

1884 

New  Mexico 

1893 

Iowa 

1855 

Nebraska             1867 

Louisiana 

1884 

South  Carolina 

1895 

New  Jersey 

1855 

West  Virginia     1867 

Arizona 

1885 

Maryland 

1896 

Illinois 

1857 

Utah                     1869 

Wyoming1 

1886 

Ohio 

1900 

Minnesota 

1858 

Missouri                1870 

Florida 

1887 

Kentucky 

1906 

Pennsylvania 

1859 

New  Hampshire  1870 

Nevada 

1887 

Alabama 

1907 

California 

1862 

Arkansas             1872 

Colorado 

1889 

Tennessee 

1909 

Kansas 

1863 

North  Carolina    1876 

Georgia 

1889 

Mississippi 

1910 

1  This  curriculum  went  into  effect  in  September,  1917. 

2  Training-classes  in  academies  established  in  1834. 


NORMAL  SCHOOL  TEACHERS 
IV.  NORMAL  SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


419 


THE  following  tables  present  the  more  Important  data  concerning  the  instructors  in 
the  five  state  normal  schools.  Tables  5—14  deal  with  individuals  employed  during  the 
year  1914—15,  and  the  remaining  tables  are  based  upon  information  for  the  year 
1915-16,  including  the  summer  of  1916. 


TABLE   5.   AGE   AND    SEX  DISTRIBUTION 


Ages 

21  to  25 

26  to  30 

31  to  35  |  36  to  40 

41  to  45 

46  to  50 

51  to  55 

56  to  60 

61  to  65 

66  to  70 

Sub- 
Total 

No 

Record 

Total 

Men 
"Women 

1 

17 

%        1        % 
16        j        23 

23        I        IS 

21 

9 

8 

8 

1 

1 

3 

1 

99 
8U 

7 
£» 

106 

93 

Both 

6 

21 

19        1        20 

17 

9 

5 

1 

1 

1 

183 

16 

199 

TABLE   6.    OCCUPATION  OF  FATHER 


-Agriculture 
and 
Forestry 

Trade 

Professional 

All 
Other 
Occupations 

Sub- 
Total 

No  Record* 
Retired,  or 
Deceased 

Total 

Men 

67.5 

11 

17.5 

4 

92 

14 

106 

Women 

31 

S3 

22 

1U 

83 

10 

93 

Both 

50 

21 

20 

9 

175 

24 

199 

Occupational  Distribution  of  Mis- 

souri Census  1910 

35.5 

11.1 

4.7 

48.7 

TABLE   7.   NUMBER  OF   OTHER  TEACHERS  IN  THE   FAMILY 


None 

One 

Two 

Three 

Four 

Five 

Six  or 
•more 

Siifc- 
2btaZ 

No 
Record 

Total 

Men 

20 

25 

25 

15 

10 

3 

2 

98 

8 

106 

Women 

89 

26 

23 

15 

# 

5 

3 

88 

5 

S3 

Both 

24 

25 

24 

15 

6 

3 

3 

186 

IS 

199 

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APPENDIX 


TABLE  10.  SOURCES  OF  DEGREES 


Number  holding  degrees 
University  of  Missouri 
Missouri  Normal  Schools 
University  of  Chicago 
Drury  College  (Missouri) 
Columbia  University 
University  of  Kansas 
Central  College  (Missouri) 
University  of  Michigan 
Indiana  University 
University  of  Wisconsin 
Missouri  Valley  College  (Missouri) 
Harvard  University 
Brown  University 
Vanderbilt  University 
University  of  Pennsylvania 
Illinois  Wesleyan  University 
Other  Missouri  Colleges2 
Other  Middle  Western  Colleges 
Other  Eastern  Colleges 
Other  Southern  Colleges 
Foreign  and  Western 


Bachelor's  Degree 

Master's  Degree 

Doctor's  Degre 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

No.        % 

1381 

100 

52 

100 

7       100 

37 

27 

16 

31 

...         ... 

17 

12 

...         ... 

10 

7 

6 

11 

1         14.2 

9 

6 

2 

4 

»..          ... 

7 

5 

6 

11 

1         14.2 

5 

4 

3 

2 

2 

4 

».. 

3 

2 

2         29 

2 

1.5 

3 

6 

... 

2 

1.5 

2 

4 

2 

1.5 

... 

... 

2 

4 

1 

1 

4 

7.5 

1 

2 

1          14,2 

... 

1          142 

1          14.2 

8 

6 

2 

4 

20 

14 

4 

7.5 

& 

4 

2 

4 

5 

4 

... 

2 

1.5 

... 

... 

...          ... 

TABLE  II.  COMBINATIONS  OF  TRAINING 

Normal  Schools 
Men       Women     Total 


High  School,  Normal  School,  College 

High  School,  College,  Graduate 

High  School,  Normal  School 

High  School,  College 

High  School,  Normal  School,  College,  Graduate 

High  School 

Normal  School,  College,  Graduate 

Normal  School 

Normal  School,  College 

High  School,  Normal  School,  Graduate 

College 

College,  Graduate 

Normal  School  and  Graduate 

Special  School  Training 


12 

34      23 

SO 

1#      22 

8 

83      14 

9 

12      11 

12 

9      11 

8 

&      6 

5 

3       4 

2 

5       3 

5 

1       3 

5 

2 

2 

1 

1 

.5 

1 

...     .5 

100 

100      100 

University  of  Missouri 


74 


10 


100 


TABLE  19.  TOTAL  TEACHING  EXPERIENCE 


Number  of  years 

Ito2 

3  to  5 

6  to  8 

9  to  12 

13  to  16 

17  to  20 

21  to  25 

26  to  30 

31- 

5  or 
less 

More 
than 
12 

Total 

No. 

Normal  Schools 
Men 
Women 
Both 
University  of  Missouri 
Men 
Women 
Both 

% 
3 
8 
5 

7 
28 
9 

% 
6 
13 
9 

24 
14 
23 

% 
15 

17 
16 

14 
%2 
15 

% 
16 
#4 
20 

16 
14 

% 
16 
11 
14 

11 
30 

% 
15 
12 
14 

11 

n 

12 

% 
14 
9 
11 

11 

14 
11 

% 
7 
5 
6 

2 
2 

% 
8 
1 
5 

4 

4 

% 
9 
SI 
14 

31 
W 
32 

% 
60 
$8 
50 

39 

B6 
39 

101 
91 
192 

132 

14 
146 

1  Three  teachers  holding  higher  degrees  gave  no  information  as  to  their  bachelor's  degrees,  which  are  here  omitted. 

2  Colleges  not  listed  have  but  one  graduate. 


NORMAL  SCHOOL  TEACHERS 


TABLE  13.   COMBINATIONS  OF  TEACHING  EXPERIENCE  (GROUPS  MUTUALLY  EXCLUSIVE) 

Men  Women  Total 


Administrative,  including1  varying  teaching  experience 

Elementary  and  Secondary 

Elementary  only 

Secondary  only 

Elementary,  Secondary,  and  College 

Normal  School  only 

Secondary  and  College 

College  only 

Elementary  and  College 


42 

13 

7 

10 

11 
4 
6 
5 

__2 
100 


h 

30 

SO 

8 

S 

10 


100 


TABLE  14.  VARIETIES  OF  TEACHING  EXPERIENCE  (GROUPS  OVERLAP) 

Men  Women 


Secondary 

Grade  School 

Rural  School 

Principal  of  Secondary  School 

City  Superintendent 

Principal  of  Elementary  School 

College 

University 

Normal  School  only 

County  Superintendent 

State  Superintendent 


76 
46 
64 
50 
39 
29 
19 
16 

4 
10 

2 


SO 
66 


11 


14 
k 

10 
1 


24 

22 

18 


6 

3 

100 


Total 

% 

63 

56 

54 

31 

22 

19 

17 

10 

7 

3 

1 


TABLE  15.  DISTRIBUTION  OF  ANNUAL  SALARIES,  1915-161 


KJRKSVILLE 

WARRENSBURG 

CAPE 

SPRINGFIELD 

MARYVILLE 

TOTALS 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

GlRARDEAU 

MISSOURI2 

Less  than  $900 

% 

% 

% 

% 

% 

% 

% 

Men 

9 

2 

1 

Women 

7 

... 

... 

2 

... 

Both 

8 

2 

1 

$901  to  $1200 

Men 

9 

... 

... 

6 

3 

2 

Women 

ItS 

16 

25 

S3 

83 

29 

10 

Both 

22 

7 

10 

20 

16 

15 

3 

$1201  to  $1500 

Men 

23 

4.5 

11 

8 

6 

11 

18 

Women 

S3 

SB 

AS 

61 

Itf 

U7 

50 

Both 

25 

27 

24 

37 

20 

27 

21 

$1501  to  $1800 

Men 

32 

41 

33 

31 

75 

42 

8 

Women 

Ik 

SI 

25 

... 

n 

18 

Both 

25 

•    37 

30 

is 

56 

31 

7 

$1801  to  $2400 

Men 

27 

50 

50 

61 

13 

40 

25 

Women 

7 

8 

6 

... 

b 

ItO 

Both 

20 

27 

33 

30 

8 

24 

26 

Over  $2400 

Men 

45 

6 

... 

... 

2 

46 

Women 

... 

... 

Both 

*2 

3 

... 

1 

42 

Median 

Men 

(22)3$1680 

(22)  $1950 

(18)   $1860 

(13)   $1920 

(16)  $1650 

(91)  $1800 

(101)  $2200 

Women 

(14)     3380 

(19)     1500 

(1#)     1500 

(IS)     13&0 

(9)     IbOO 

(7S)    1MO 

(10)    1££7 

Both 

(36)     1500 

(41)     1750 

(30)     1650 

(31)     1400 

(25)     1650 

(163)    1650 

(111)    2200 

1  Only  regular,  full-time  instructors  receiving  more  than  $800  are  represented. 

2  The  Salaries  of  all  regular  normal  school  teachers  are  paid  in  twelve  parts  and  are  based  upon  four  twelve-week 
terms  of  service—  a  fact  which  should  be  borne  in  mind  when  comparison  is  made  with  workers  in  other  ftelds,  the 
university,  for  example,  where  the  salary  is  for  two  semesters  or  the  equivalent  of  three  terms  at  the  normal  schools. 
Pay  for  instruction  during  the  summer  session  is  two-thirds  of  pro  rata  in  addition  at  the  university,  while  at  the 
normal  schools  it  is  a  part  of  the  year's  salary.  To  allow  for  this  difference,  the  university  salaries  in  the  table  have 
been  increased  by  two-ninths,  making-  them  comparable,  for  similar  length  of  service,  with  salaries  at  the  normal 
schools 

8  The  numbers  in  parenthesis  indicate  the  number  of  teachers  considered. 


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425 


TABLE  17.  LENGTH  OF  WEEKLY  PROGRAMS,  1915-16 


KlRKSVILLE 

WARRENSBURG 

CAPE  GXRARDEAU 

SPRINGFIELD 

MARYVILLE 

TOTAL 

Hours  per  week 

Less  than  20 

% 

% 

% 

% 

% 

% 

Regular  Session 

28 

6 

54 

12 

35 

26 

Summer  Session 

18 

5 

58 

3 

19 

18 

Total 

26 

6 

55 

9 

29 

23 

20  to  24 

Regular  Session 

71 

44 

41 

57 

49 

52 

Summer  Session 

67 

30 

38 

30 

46 

40 

Total 

69 

39 

40 

47 

48 

49 

25  to  29 

Regular  Session 

1 

44 

5 

20 

16 

19 

Summer  Session 

15 

60 

4 

50 

27 

35 

Total 

5 

49 

5 

31 

20 

24 

30  to  34 

Regular  Session 

6 

9 

3 

Summer  Session 

5 

17 

8 

7 

Total 

6 

12 

3 

4 

35  hours  and  over 

Regular  Session 

2 

<1 

Summer  Session 

Total 

1 

<1 

NOTE  :  Teachers  of  fine  arts,  industrial  arts,  commercial  subjects,  library  economy,  music,  and  physi- 
cal training,  together  with  all  teachers  receiving  $800  or  less  are  omitted.  Laboratory  periods  are 
reckoned  at  one-half  the  time  value  of  lecture  or  recitation  periods. 


TABLE  18.  SALAEIES  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOL  TEACHERS  ACCORDING  TO  THEIR  GRADE  OF 

WORK,  1915-16 


College  Glasses 
only 

College  Classes 
chiefly 

Secondary  Classes 
cliieHy 

Secondary  Classes 
only 

Per  cent  of  group 

Men 
Women 
Both 

% 
13 
3 
10 

% 
52 

S9 
48 

% 
31 

58 
38 

% 
4 
6 

4 

Average  monthly  salary 
Men 
Women 
Both 

$176 
113 
170 

$157 
136 
149 

$153 
119 
139 

$133 

9® 
117 

NOTE:  The  above  table  includes  only  regular,  full-time  instructors  receiving  over  $800.  All  training- 
school  instructors  and  teachers  of  special  subjects  have  also  been  omitted. 


TABLE  19.  EXTENT  OF  SECONDARY  WORK  REPORTED  BY  THE  FORTY-ONE  BEST-TRAINED 
NORMAL  SCHOOL  TEACHERS,  1915-16 

A.  Proportion  of  Secondary  Student  Grades 


KTRKSVILLE 

WARRENSBURG 

CAPE  G-TRARDEAU 

SPRINGFIELD 

MARTVTLLE 

TOTAL 

Whole  year 
Summer  only 

31%l 
15% 

39% 
27% 

28% 
26% 

38% 
26% 

53% 

48% 

36% 
26% 

Whole  year 
Summer  only 


B,  Proportion  of  Secondary  Classes 

37% 

81% 


1  That  is,  31  per  cent  of  the  student  grades  reported  by  the  members  of  this  "best-trained  "  group  who  taught  at 
Kirksvill'e  were  given  for  secondary  work ;  the  balance  were  collegiate. 


426 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  20.  TRAINING-  OF  EIGHTY-ONE1  TEACHERS  WHO  TAUGHT  ONLY  IN  THE 

SUMMEB  SESSION,  1916 


KlRKSVILLE 

WARRENSBURG 

CAPE 

GlRARDEAU 

SPRINGFIELD 

MARYVILLE 

TOTAL 

Number  of  Teachers 
Men 
Women 
Both 

19 

8 

27 

10 

7 

17 

5 

J 

10 

8 
9 

17 

8 
S 
10 

50 
Jl 
81 

Advanced  degrees  from  college  or  uni- 
versity 

% 

% 

% 

% 

% 

% 

Men 

30 

40 

25 

38 

20 

Women 

Ik 

a 

Both 

24 

20 

12 

30 

13 

Four-year  degrees  or  higher  from  col- 
lege or  university 

Men 

11 

50 

60 

63 

100 

46 

Women 

08 

29 

20 

56 

50 

S3 

Both 

19 

41 

40 

59 

90 

43 

Any  college  or  university  training 

Men 

42 

70 

80 

100 

100 

70 

Women 

50 

71 

60 

100 

100 

7A 

Both 

44 

71 

70 

100 

100 

72 

Degrees  from  first  class  institutions 

Men 

11 

50 

60 

38 

75 

38 

Women 

38 

29 

20 

S3 

50 

&2 

Both 

19 

41 

40 

36 

70 

36 

Four-  year  degrees  from  normal  schools 

Men 

32 

10 

20 

38 

22 

Women 

13 

... 

S 

Both 

26 

6 

10 

18 

15 

Any  normal  school  training 

Men 

79 

100 

80 

75 

25 

74 

Women 

75 

71 

100 

75 

100 

81 

Both 

78 

88 

90 

76 

40 

77 

Trained  in  local  normal  school  only 

Men 

58 

30 

20 

30 

Women 

50 

29 

m 

23 

Both 

56 

29 

20 

27 

Any  local  training 

Men 

79 

100 

60 

50 

25 

68 

Women 

50 

57 

SO 

67 

50 

61 

Both 

70 

82 

70 

59 

30 

65 

1  Thirteen  other  teachers  were  employed  in  the  summer  from  whom  these  data  could  not  Tt>e  secured. 


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APPENDIX 


§  V.  NORMAL  SCHOOL  STUDENTS 

TABLE  93.  A.  CLASSIFICATION  OF  TOTAL  ENROLMENT,  1913-14 l 
KIRKS VILLE     WARRENSBURG      CAPE  GIRARDEAU      SPRINGFIELD      MARYVILLE 


Collegiate  Men 
Collegiate  Women 
Secondary  Men 
Secondary  Women 
Total  Men 
Total  Women 
Total  Both 


170 

501 

262 

5kS 

432 

lOltU 

1476 


225 
901 
235 

566 
460 
1667 

1927 


140 

8%S 
234 
Bk9 
374 
B1U 
1048 


167 

556 

365 

8A3 

532 

1398 

1930 


68 
109 

114 
872 
182 
572 
753 


TOTAL 

770 

8182 
1210 
$672 
1980 
515k 
7134 


B,  "STANDARD"  ENROLMENT,  1913-14. 

KIRRSVILLE    WARRENSBURG      CAPE  GIRARDEAU      SPRINGFIELD      MARYVILLE 
Standard  enrolment2  887  1139  650  1084  424 

Per  cent  of  total  enrolment 
(Table  22  A)  60  69  62  56  56 


TOTAL 

4184 


TABLE  23.  PROPORTION  OF  MEN  IN  VARIOUS  NORMAL  SCHOOL  CLASSIFICATIONS,  1913-14 


KlRKSVJLLE 

Reg.  Sum.  Both 
Sess.  Sess. 
only 

WARRENSBURG 
Reg.  Sum.  Both 
Sess.  Sess. 
only 

CAPL  GIRARDEAU 
Reg.  Sum.  Both 
Sess.  Sess. 
only 

SPRINGFIELD 
Reg.  Sum.  Both 
Sess.  Sess. 
only 

MARYVILL& 
Reg.  Sum.  Both 
Sess.  Sess. 
only 

TOTAL 
Reg.  Sum.  Both 
Sess.  Sess 

OVlllJ 

Collegiate 
Secondary 
Total 

%       %       % 
32s      20       25 
41        19       33 
37       19       29 

%       %       % 
25        16        20 
36        23        29 
30        19        24 

%       %       % 
33       26       30 

50        27        40 

42        27        36 

%       %       % 
26        20        23 
33        26        30 
31        24        28 

%       %       % 
22       30       25 
32       17        23 
28        21        24 

%     %    % 

28       20       24 
38        23       31 
34        21        28 

TABLE  24.  CHANGES  IN  THE  PROPORTION  OF  MEN  STUDENTS  SINCE  1871  * 


1871 
55% 


1881 
59% 


1891 

47% 


1901 

43% 


1911 

33% 


1914 

28% 


1  The  figures  here  given  total  more  than  eight  hundred  fewer  than  the  catalogued  figures  of  the  several  schools  for 
the  same  year  (8007).  The  difference  is  due  mainly  to  a  surprisingly  large  number  of  names  listed  in  the  catalogues 
for  which  no  trace  of  attendance  was  found;  they  either  never  appeared  after  registration  "or  speedily  dropped  out. 
A  few  were  in  extension  classes,  and  certain  others  were  local  members  of  gymnasium  or  music  classes  and  not 
bona  fide  students  at  the  school. 

2  The  term  "standard"  enrolment  is  here  applied  to  the  enrolment  of  one  student  for  three  terms  or  36  weeks.  Re- 
duced to  such  units,  the  total  enrolment  at  each  school  is  cut  down  by  about  two-fifths;  the  actual  average  enrol- 
ment being  for  from  1.7  to  1.9  terms. 

3  Thus,  32  per  cent  of  the  collegiate  enrolment  in  the  regular  session  at  Kirksville  were  men,  while  only  20  per  cent 
of  the  collegiate  students  enrolling  only  in  the  summer  were  men. 

4  Proportions  at  each  school  are  for  the  years  indicated  except  as  follows :  Warrensburg,  1873 ;  Cape  Girardeau,  1874 ; 
Kirksville,  1882  and  1893,  and  Maryville,  1912. 


NORMAL  SCHOOL  STUDENTS 


429 


TABLE  25.  PROPORTION  OF  SECONDARY  ENROLMENT,  1913-14* 

EJRKSVILLE     WARRENSBDRG   CAPE  GIRARDEAU  SPRINGFIELD      MARYVILLE 


TOTAL 


Regular  Session 

Men 

Women 

Both 

Attending  in  Summer  only 


Total  Enrolment 


Women 
Both 

Men 

Women 

Both 


43 

U5 

45 

61 

53 
54 


53 

kl 

44 

49 

37 
39 

51 
39 
42 


66 
Ii9 
56 

56 
55 
65 

63 

52 


71 
60 


65 

57 
59 


60 
63 


64 
53 
55 

61 
76 

72 

63 
65 
65 


65 

53 

67 

55 
51 

52 

61 

52 
65 


TABLE  26.  AGE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  TOTAL  ENROLMENT,  1913-14 


Less      Less 
than     than 

16          17 


Less      

than     than     than 
18  19  20 


20 


21 


More     More    More     More     More  More 

than     than     than     than     than    than 

21  22  23  25  30          40 


Collegiate  Men 

<1 

1 

4 

9 

19 

11 

10 

60 

48 

Collegiate  Women  <1 

1 

5 

11 

24 

16 

13 

47 

37 

Both 

<1 

1 

3 

11 

23 

15 

12 

50 

40 

100% 

Secondary  Men 

3 

8 

16 

29 

43 

14 

10 

33 

24 

Secondary  Women   $           8 

18 

3k 

47 

12 

9 

38 

25 

Both 

2 

8 

18 

32 

46 

13 

9 

32 

25 

100% 

Total  Men 

2 

5 

11 

21 

34 

13 

10 

43 

33 

Total  Women 

1 

4 

11 

23 

5ff 

14 

11 

39 

31 

Both 

1 

5 

11 

23 

35 

14 

11 

40 

32 

40 


31 


17 
SO 
19 


26 


24 


25 


19 


11 


12 


16 


15 


TABLE  27.  NATIONALITY  OF  PARENTS2 

KIRKSVILLE    WARRENSBURG    CAPE  GIRARDEAU    SPRINGFIELD    MARYVILLE     TOTAL 


Parents  of  the  same  nationality 

American 

English 

German 

Irish 

All  Others 
Parents  of  mixed  nationality 

Proportion  of  foreign  strains 
among  parents  in  mixed  group 

English 

German 

Irish 

All  Others 


65 
5 

4 
1 

<1 
25 
100 


18 
19 
15 
J8 
100 


54 
5 
5 
2 
2 

_3§ 
100 


20 
16 
12 
52 
100 


35 

a 

11 


Jl 
100 


17 
19 
12 
52 
100 


51 
12 
4 
2 
1 

JO 
100 


17 
17 
14 

J>2 
100 


67 
2 
4 
2 

<1 
J25 
100 


14 
15 
16 
55 
100 


63 
7 
6 
2 
1 

31 
100 


18 

17 
13 

_52 
100 


1  Thus,  in  the  regular  session  of  1913-14  at  Kirksville,  68  per  cent  of  the  men  were  secondary  students,  the  remaining 
32  per  cent  being1  collegiate. 

2  Question  answered  on  90  per  cent  of  the  student  cards,  1915.  See  page  402,  par.  5. 


i 


£! 


sg 


*O   *O   CO   CO   CO 

«rs  io  o»  co  oo 


OO   CT»   CO 


M 


S  53  ^ 


S,  0 


gg 


^  $3 


[  4^30  ] 


1 


s 


£.. 


NORMAL  SCHOOL  STUDENTS 


431 


TABLE  29.  FATHER  S  INCOME  l 


Less  than    Less  than    Less  than 


$501 


All  Schools 

% 

Total 

13 

Total  Men 

16 

Total  Women 

12 

Collegiate  Men 

16 

Collegiate  Women 

6 

Secondary  Men 

16 

Secondary  Women 

16 

KIRKSVILLE 

6 

WARRENSBURG 

11 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

16 

SPRINGFIELD 

26 

MARYVILLE 

5 

28 
33 

25 
35 
Ih 
32 
33 

13 

20 
37 
50 
16 


§1001 


$1001-$1500 


More  than  More  than  More  than 


100% 


$1500 


50 

20 

30 

54 

21 

25 

A7 

19 

SU 

52 

20 

28 

uk 

SI 

k5 

55 

22 

23 

56 

17 

27 

36 

22 

42 

42 

24 

34 

57 

19 

24 

73 

14 

13 

36 

20 

44 

$2000 

19 

15 
SI 
16 
20 
15 
16 

24 
23 
14 
8 
31 


$3000 

% 
10 

7 
12 

7 
15 

7 
10 

12 
15 

7 
4 
17 


Total 
Number 

1146 
468 

678 
187 
279 
281 
899 

265 
207 
222 
286 
166 


TABLE  30.  "IS  TEACHING  THE  BEST-PAID  EMPLOYMENT  YOU  COULD  CONVENIENTLY 

UNDERTAKE?"3 

Collegiate  Men       Collegiate  Women    Secondary  Men   Secondary  Women  Total 

Reporting  "Yes"  43%  M%  51%  88%  74% 


TABLE  31.  "ARE  YOU  SELF-DEPENDENT  IN  PAYING  FOR  YOUR  EDUCATION?"3 

Collegiate  Men     Collegiate  Women  Secondary  Men   Secondary  Women  Total 


Reporting  "Yes"  64 

Reporting  "No"  27 

Reporting  "  Partly  "  9 


42 


36 
57 

7 


TABLE  32.  SIZE  OF  FAMILY4 
KIRKSVILLE  WARRENSBURG   C.  GIRARDEAU    SPRINGFIELD    MARYVILLE 


No.  of  children 

One 

Two-Four 

Five-Eight 

Nine-Eleven 

Twelve  or  more 


5 
40 
41 
13 

1 
100 


38 
43 
11 

_? 
100 


31 
45 
18 

_J 

100 


25 
48 
19 

_J> 
100 


3 
38 
45 
12 

2 
100 


TOTALS 
Men    Women      Both 


5 
31 
44 
17 

3 
100 


13 
& 

"wo 


5 
35 
44 
14 

~J? 
100 


*  Proportions  based  on  student  cards ;  60  per  cent  of  the  men  and  41  per  cent  of  the  women  replied  to  the  question. 
See  page  402,  par.  5. 

2  Question  answered  on  87  per  cent  of  the  student  cards.  See  page  402,  par.  5. 

«  QuestionanSweredon99  per  cent  of  the  student  cards  from  Kirksville,  Warrensbure,  and  MaryvUle  only.  Seepage 

402  par.  5. 

*  Question  answered  on  99  per  cent  of  the  student  cards.  See  page  402,  par.  6. 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  33.  OTHER  TEACHERS  IN  THE  FAMILY  1 
KIRKSVTLLE     WARRENSBURG   C.  GIRARDEAU    SPRINGFIELD    MARYVILLE 


None 

One  or  Two 

Three  or  more 


37 


J.5 

100 


41 

48 

11 

100 


36 
48 
16 
100 


34 

45 
J21 
100 


44 

48 

8 

100 


TOTALS 
Men    Women      Both 


35 

49 
16 
100 


SO  38 

A7  47 

_m  jus 

100  100 


TABLE  34.  UHOW  MANY  OF  YOUR  FAMILY  EVER  ATTENDED  A  NORMAL  SCHOOL?"2 

KJRKSVILLE     WARRENSBURG    C.  GIRARDEAU    SPRINGFIELD  MARYVILLE  TOTALS 

Men    Women     Both 


None 

One 

Two 

Three  or  more 


25 
23 
_26 
100 


35 
23 

20 

22 

100 


34 

25 

23 

JL8 

100 


40 
21 
18 

Jl 
100 


43 
25 
15 
17 
100 


31 
23 

22 

_24 
100 


SO 
100 


35 
24 
20 

JO. 

100 


TABLE  35.  HIGH  SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE3 
KIRKSVILLE   WARRENSBURG    CAPE  GIRARDEAU   SPRINGFIELD     MARYVILLE   TOTAL 


Any  high  school  for  any  period  % 

Collegiate  Men  56 

Collegiate  Women  75 

Secondary  Men  36 

Secondary  Women  50 

First  class  high  school  for  four  years 

Collegiate  Men  19 

Collegiate  Women  U) 


73 

86 
54 


43 


64 
77 
36 
SU 

19 


61 

59 


20 
5k 


68 
86 
65 
61 

40 
55 


65 

81 

47 
55 


TABLE  36.  EATINGS,  BY  THEIE  SCHOOL  PRINCIPALS,  OF  871  GEADTJATES 
FROM  FIFTY- EIGHT  MISSOURI  HIGH  SCHOOLS  OF  THE  FIRST  CLASS 

Showing*  the  relative  proportions  of  different  grades  of  ability  in  studies 
and  of  different  grades  of  personal  quality  found  in  the  various  occupa- 
tion groups  of  these  graduates  immediately  after  leaving  the  high  school 

(For  the  discussion  of  these  tables,  see  page  191) 
A.  Ratings  of  Ability  distributed  among  Occupations 


Number  and  Pro- 

Rated '*  A" 

Rated  "A" 

Rated  "JB" 

Bated  "J5" 

Rated  "C" 

Rated  "C" 

portion  in  various 
Occupations 

(excellent) 
in  Studies 

(excellent) 
in  Person- 

(medium) 
in  Studies 

(medium) 
in  Person- 

(poor) in 
Studies 

(poor)  in 
Person- 

ality 

ality 

ality 

Men        Women 

Men     Wo. 

Men     Wo. 

Men     Wo. 

Men     "PTo. 

Men     Wo. 

Men     Wo. 

No.     %    No.     % 

%         % 

%          % 

%          % 

%          % 

%         % 

%         % 

At  College  or  Univ. 

159—  47     10£—  80 

47           S3 

65          SO 

60          SO 

41           16 

36            5 

32            9 

At  Normal  School 

9—    2.5    $9—    7 

4            7 

I            8 

2            8 

4            5 

2            A 

3            5 

Teaching 

80—    9     190—  36 

15          IS 

11           36 

6           & 

9          &? 

6          JM 

7           36' 

In  Business 

44—  13         9—    2 

10            1 

9         <1 

14             3 

13            8 

16            5 

17             k 

At  Home 

26—  '  7.5  m—  23 

12          1U 

5           13 

3           27 

4           J85 

13          55 

19           Al 

Other  Occupations 

72—  21       66—  12 

12           10 

9          13 

25           11 

29          11 

27          27 

22          15 

340—100     531—100 

100        100 

100         100 

100         100 

100         100 

100         100 

100         100 

(101)*    (205) 

(106)      (187) 

(176)      Gm) 

(157)      (03$) 

(63)        (56') 

(77)      (106') 

1  Question  answered  on  97  per  cent  of  the  student  cards.  See  page  402,  par.  5. 

2  Question  answered  on  98  per  cent  of  the  student  cards.  See  page  402,  par.  5. 

3  Proportions  based  on  entire  enrolment  for  1913-14. 

*  Figures  in  parenthesis  indicate  the  numbers  on  which  the  percentages  are  based. 


NORMAL  SCHOOL  STUDENTS 


433 


B.  Ratings  of  Ability  distributed  within  Occupational  Groups 


At  College 
Men  Women 

J.i  Normal 
Scliool 
Men  Women 

Teaching 
Men  Women 

In,  Business 
Men  Women 

.42  Home 
Men  Women 

Other  Occu- 
pations 
Men  Women 

Total 
Men  Women 

(159)  x  (10&) 

(%      (ff 

(30)  (150) 

(%  }     % 

(2$    (IlP 

(72)    <g?) 

(340)  (&?1) 

Rating-  in  Studies 

A  30         hk 

A  44.5     S0 

A  50       AS 

A  23       11 

A  46       #A 

A  17        &? 

A  29       ^'5 

B  55        53 

B  44.5     56 

B37        Afi 

B54        5<5 

B23       55 

B60        k5 

B52       51 

C15          3 

Cll         5 

C13         6* 

C  23        £J 

C31        17 

C23        2J 

C19        11 

100       100 

100      10(9 

100      100 

100      100 

100      100 

100      100 

100      100 

Rating1  in  Personality 

A  43         5A 

All        SS 

A  37        55 

A  23       11 

A  19       SO 

A  14        $6 

A  31        35 

B  41         36 

B  67        49 

B47        50 

B  48         AA.5 

B23        &5 

B  62        £0 

B46        US 

C  16        10 

C22        13 

C  16        1/7 

C  29        AA  5 

C  58        35 

C24       SU 

C  23        20 

100        100 

100       100 

100       100 

100      100 

100      100 

100      100 

100      100 

TABLE  37.  COMPARISON  OF  COLLEGIATE  RATINGS  AT  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  OF  STUDENTS  PREPARED 

AT  HIGH  SCHOOLS  WITH  RATINGS  OF  STUDENTS  PREPARED  AT  THE  NORMAL   SCHOOLS 

(For  the  discussion  of  this  table,  see  page  192) 

KIRKSVILLE  WARKENSBURG  CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

N.S,        ST.  8.  AT.S.  H.S.  W.S.         H.S. 

Graduates  in  1915  8u+          15u+  8u+  15u-«-  8u-i-  15u  + 

Sixty-hour  Class 


17 
% 
4 
23 
62 
11 


157 
% 

2 

22 
71 

5 


25 
% 
12 
29 

42 

17 


49 

% 

5 

24 
54 

17 


SPRINGFIELD 
N.S.         H.S. 


24 
% 
10 
45 
45 


38 
% 
8 

42 
50 


Number  of  cases                 9  27 

%  % 

Proportion  of  "A's0         23  29 

"B's"         €0  57 

"CV          17  14 
"ID'S" 
Ninety-hour  Class  3 

Number  of  cases               25  23 

Proportion  of  *'  A's "        41  42 

"B's"         49  50 

"C's"         10  8 

TABLE  38.  PROPORTION  OF  STUDENTS  REPORTING  TEACHING  EXPERIENCE4 

KIRKSVILLE    WARRENSBURG    CAPE  GIRARDEAU     SPRINGFIELD   MARTVILLE      TOTA 


Collegiate  Men 
Collegiate  Women 
Secondary  Men 
Secondary  Women 
Total 


68 

76 

27 
51 

57 


64 

66 
41 

50 
58 


61 
SU 
45 
58 
54 


71 
66 
52 


TABLE  39.  DISTRIBUTION  OP  TEACHING  EXPERIENCE  4 


59 

56 
42 
£3 
52 


65 

65 
42 
53 
57 


reporting  More  than  More  than  More  then  More  than  More  than  More  than 

Experience  1-5  mos.  6-9  mos.      lyear        $  years       2  years       k  years       5  years       10  mars 


Collegiate  Men  65 

Collegiate  Women  65 

Secondary  Men  42 

Secondary  Women  S3 

Total  57 


2 

13 

50 

» 

15 

AS 

2 

11 

29 

5 

IS 

S3 

3 

13 

41 

100% 


39 
35 
19 

06 
29 


29 


IS 

IS 


22 
IS 
9 

n 

15 


16 
JS 
6 
9 
11 


1  Figures  in  parenthesis  indicate  the  numbers  on  which  the  percentages  are  hased. 

2  At  Kirksville  and  Springfield  passing-  students  are  rated  in  three  groups  only. 

8  Owing  to  the  small  numbers  in  the  sixty-hour  class  at  Kirksville,  the  ninety-hour  graduates  were  studied  also. 
4  Proportions  based  on  total  enrolment  for  1913-14. 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  40.  UDO  YOU  PLAN  TO  TEACH  PERMANENTLY?'' 


Reporting  "No" 
Collegiate  Men 
Collegiate  Women 
Secondary  Men 
Secondary  Women 
Total  Men 
Total  Wonien 


KJ&KSVILLE 

% 
70 
53 
90 

60 


WARRENSBURG 


75 


77 


MARYVILLE 


61 

60 


70 

56 


TOTAL 

% 

71 


82 
53 


TABLE  41.  KIND  OF  TEACHING  SOUGHT  BY  THOSE  INTENDING  TO  TEACH 
IMMEDIATELY  UPON  LEAVING  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL1 


High  School 
and  Szipervision 


Graded 
Elementary  School 


Rural 
Elementary  ScJiool 


Collegiate  Men 
Collegiate  Women 
Secondary  Men 
Secondary  Women 
Total  Men 
Total  Women 


82 
U5 
34 
IS 
55 
29 


13 

9 

59 
55 
39 
35 


TABLE  43.  PROGRAMS  SCHEDULED  BY  ALL  COLLEGIATE  STUDENTS  IN  1913-14 


Periods  per  week     Less  than 
15 

KlRKSVILLE  % 

Regular  Session  10 

Summer  Session  10 


WARRENSBURG 
Regular  Session 
Summer-Session 


SPRINGFIELD 
Regular  Session 
Summer  Session 

MARYVILLE 
Regular  Session 
Summer  Session 


Periods  per  week 


CAPE  GIRARDEAU 
Regular  Session 
Summer  Session 


15 
13 


5 
10 


Less 
than 

13 

12 
26 


Less  than 

More  than 

20 

20-23 

23 

31 

62 

7 

30 

62 

8 

100% 

11 

84 

5 

16 

82 

2 

100% 

31 

47 

22 

34 

47 

19 

100% 

21 

75 

4 

26 

69 

5 

100% 

Less 
than 

Less 
than 

More        More 
than         than 

14 

15 

15-16 

16              17 

16 

21 

19 

60               40 

42 

62 

28 

10                 6 

More  than 
25 


More 

than 

18 

20 
3 


More  than 
28 


<1 


More 

than 

19 


More 

than 

20 

3 
1 


Total 


702 
639 


1148 
852 


761 
605 


360 
172 


Total 


321 


100% 


1  Proportions  based  on  student  cards  from  Kirksvillet  Warrensburg1,  and  Maryville  only ;  the  question  was  added 
to  the  card  after  the  other  schools  had  reported.  See  page  402,  par.  5. 


NORMAL  SCHOOL  STUDENTS 


435 


TABLE  43.  PROGRAMS  SCHEDULED  BY  ALL  SECONDARY  STUDENTS  IN   1913-14 


Periods  per  week    Less  than  Less  than 
15  20 

KlRKSVILLE  %  % 

Regular  Session  8  38 

Summer  Session          8  42 


WARRENSBURG 

Regular  Session  3 

Summer  Session  2 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

Regular  Session  5 

Summer  Session  6 

SPRINGFIELD 

Regular  Session  31 

Summer  Session  21 

MARYVILLE 

Regular  Session  6 

Summer  Session  7 


13 


14 
31 


51 

44 


22 
23 


20-23 


69 
56 


100% 

90 

86 


100% 

22 
39 


100% 

39 

44 


100% 

75 
75 


More  than  More  than  More  than    More  than       TOTAL 
23  25  28  30 


64 
30 


10 
12 


978 
440 


841 
554 


41 
16 


15 


992 

896 


397 
342 


100% 


TABLE  44.  DISTRIBUTION  OF  STUDENT  GRADES,  19I3-141 


KlRKSVILLE 

WARRENSBURG 

C.  GIRARDEAU 

SPRINGFIELD 

MARYVILLE 

TOTAL 

Coll.  Sec.  Tot. 

ColL  Sec.  Tot. 

Coll.  Sec.  Tot. 

Coll.  Sec.  Tot 

Coll.  Sec.  Tot 

Coll.  Sec.  Tot 

Passing  Grades  A 

23      16      20 

322 

968 

32     25     29 

534 

94     90      93 

B 

55      44      51 

21      16      19 

27      18      24 

47      44      46 

32     33      32 

C 

14      23      18 

59      57      59 

45      44      45 

9      13      11 

51      46      48 

D2 

10      15      12 

10      14      11 

487 

Conditioned 

222 

333 

496 

132 

111 

Half  Credit 

232 

Failed 

173 

253 

263 

364 

233 

253 

Dropped 

586 

222 

333 

666 

565 

454 

100    100    100 

100    100    100 

100    100    100 

100    100    100 

100    100    100 

100    100    100 

Total  Grades 

11,044 

14,854 

10,834 

15,OP4 

5,384 

57,210 

TABLE  45.  SEASONAL  VARIATION  IN  COLLEGIATE  STUDENT  FAILURE,  1913-14 

KJRKSVILLE          WARRENSBURG     CAPE  GIKARDEAU      SPRINGFIELD  MARYVILLE  TOTAL 

Fall  2.1  1.9  2.8  1.7  1.6  2.1 

Winter  2  2.1  1.3  3  2.2  2.1 

Spring  1.4  2.3  1.4  6.4  3.4  3 

Summer  .6   *  1.9  1.5  .8  .7  1.2 


1  These  data  cover  all  the  work  done  during  the  entire  year  1913-14  except  at  Warrensburgr,  where,  owing  to  the 
destruction  of  the  earlier  records,  the  grades  for  1915-16  were  used. 

2  Kirksville  and  Springfield  group  their  passing  grades  in  three  instead  of  four  divisions. 


436 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  46.   SIZE  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOL   CLASSES,  1915-16 


Secondary 

Collegiate 

Less   Less 
than  than 
5         10 

Less            More  More  More 
t?ian            than  than    than 
15      15-20      20          30          40 

More 
than 
50 

Less 
than 
3 

iess  i/ess 
than  than 
5          10 

Less 
than 
15 

More  More  More 
than  t7ia,n    than 
15-20      20          30          40 

More 
than 
50 

KlRKSVILLE 

% 

% 

%         %         %         % 

% 

% 

% 

% 

% 

% 

%         % 

% 

% 

% 

Reg-.  Sess. 

3 

16 

25          28          47         13 

3 

2 

3 

12 

39 

58 

12         30 

13 

5 

2 

Sum.  Sess. 
WARRENSBURG 

S 

S 

S         27          65         45 
100% 

33 

20 

1 

17 

26 

14          60 

46 

25 

17 

100% 

Reg:.  Sess. 

— 

20 

41          17          42         10 

S 

1 

1 

5 

30 

53 

19         28 

10 

2 

1 

Sum,  Sess. 

3 

4 

15          21          64         32 

11 

3 

— 

1 

10 

18 

•>••    .... 

16          66 

_  ^  -s 

41 

17 

4 

CAPE  G-IRARDEAU 

100% 

100% 

Reg-.  Sess. 

— 

6 

23         23         54         25 

10 

4 

2 

13 

37 

54 

14         32 

14 

8 

4 

Sum,  Sess. 
SPRINGFIELD 

2 

9 

12            9          79         55 

29 

2 

11 

30 

41 

<^—_ 

12         47 

y  ' 

100% 

31 

20 

6 

100% 

Reg-.  Sess. 

3 

12 

28         23         49         14 

2 

_ 

3 

9 

30 

53 

15         32 

15 

5 

1 

Sum.  Sess. 

MARYVILLE 

8 

16          18          66         25 

2 

2 

1 

15 

36 

*-  

20          44 

,  Y  —  ' 

100% 

29 

12 

4 

100% 

Reg-.  Sess. 

6 

28 

56         16          28         14 

2 

— 

3 

16 

48 

70 

14         16 

6 

3 

1 

Sum.  Sess. 
TOTALS 

4 

8 

23         22         55         33 

100% 

10 

4 

4 

12 

46 

67 

5          28 

21 

19 

12 

100% 

Reg1.  Sess. 

2 

16 

34         21          45         15 

4 

1 

2 

10 

36 

66 

15         29 

12 

5 

2 

Sum.  Sess. 

2 

7 

16         19          65         34 

12 

5 

1 

4 

21 

34 

14          52 

36 

19 

9 

Both 

2 

13 

27         21         52         22 

7 

3 

2 

8 

31 

49 

*>  —  - 

15          36 

r  

20 

10 

4 

100% 


100% 


TABLE  47.  PROPORTIONS  OF  LARGE  AND  SMALL  CLASSES  IN  VARIOUS  DEPARTMENTS,  1915-16 

Secondary  Classes 


Regular  Session 
Less  than  ten  More  than  thirty 


Summer  Session 
Less  than  ten  More  than  thirty 


Latin 

57 

Education 

27 

Household  Arts 

36 

History 

26 

German 

29 

All  Subjects 

15 

Biolog-y 

27 

Geography 

20 

All  Subjects 

16 

Latin 
German 
All  Subjects 


76 
40 

7 


Education 

History 

English 

Physics 

Geography 

Biology 

Agriculture 

Mathematics 

Chemistry 

All  Subjects 


33 
33 

29 
28 
20 
34 


NORMAL  SCHOOL  STUDENTS 


437 


TABLE  47  (continued).  PROPORTIONS  OF  LARGE  AND  SMALL  CLASSES 
Collegiate  Classes 


Regular  Session 
Less  than  ten  More  than  thirty 


Latin 

French 

German 

Mathematics 

Spanish 

Agriculture 

Household  Arts 

Physics 

Geography 

Chemistry 

Biology 

History 

English 

Library  Science 

Education 

All  Subjects 


70 
60 
54 
50 
44 
44 
43 
42 
40 
35 
29 
27 
25 
20 
36 


Library  Science 
Education 
All  Subjects 


75 
27 
12 


Summer  Session 
Less  than  ten  More  than  thirty 


Latin 

German 

Spanish 

French 

Biology 

Library  Science 

Household  Aits 

Physics 

Chemistry 

Mathematics 

Agriculture 

All  Subjects 


92 
69 
60 
50 
43 
40 
35 
27 
26 
23 
22 
21 


Geography 

Library  Science 

Education 

Biology 

English 

History 

Agriculture 

Chemistry 

All  Subjects 


60 
56 
43 

42 
31 
26 
26 
36 


TABLE  48.  NUMBER  OF  FOUR- YEAR  BACHELOR'S  DEGREES  FROM 

MISSOURI  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 
1907        1908        1909        1910        1911        1912        1913        1914        1915        1916        1917 


KIRKSVILLE 
WARRENSBURG- 
CAPE  GIRARDEAU 
SPRINGFIELD 
MARYVILLE 
TOTAL 


TOTAL 


1 

1 

0 

4 

6 

7 

16 

22 

29 

32 

45 

163 

0 

0 

2 

2 

6 

1   2 

1 

3 

8 

12 

20 

55 

0 

3 

10 

1 

6 

8 

5 

4 

5 

13 

9 

63 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

9 

9 

10 

29 

_0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

12 

12 

1 

4 

12 

7 

16 

17 

23 

29 

51 

66 

96 

322 

TABLE  49.  SUBSEQUENT  EMPLOYMENT  OF  RECIPIENTS  OF  NORMAL 
SCHOOL  CERTIFICATES  IN  1915 x 


KIRKSVILLE 

WARRENSBURG 

C.  GIRARDEAU 

SPRINGFIELD 

TOTAL 

Men  Wo.  Both 

Men  Wo.  Both 

Men  Wo.  Both 

Men  Wo.  Both 

Men  Wo.  Both 

Number  of  Certificates  issued 

102    S36    338 

127    kSl    578 

101    261    362 

95    $96    391 

425    l£t&     1669 

Teaching 

72      69      70 

71      68      69 

75      77      77 

84      79      80 

75       73      73 

Students 

23      17      19 

12.5  1U      13 

16      10      12 

12       9       9 

16       15.5    13 

Business,  At  Home,  etc. 

4      11        9 

8.5     7       8 

576 

498 

5         8.5     8 

No  Record 

132 

8      11      10 

465 

—       83 

4  6        6 

100    100    100 

100    100    100 

100    100    100 

100    100    100 

100     100      100 

Distribution  of  those  Teaching 

Rural  Schools 

22      29      27 

36      Ul      40 

36      19      23 

43      37      38 

S3       55      33 

Elementary  Grades 

8      $7      29 

22      l&     41 

24      57      55 

26      54      47 

20       51      43 

High  Schools 

28      $6      26 

36      11      16 

25      13      16 

22        9      IS 

28       13       17 

Normal  School  or  College 

1        S        2 

2    <1     <1 

111 

1     <1        1 

211 

Supervision 

31        1      10 

2—1 

13—4 

8—2 

13     <1        4 

Other  Teaching 

10        5       6 

2        S        2 

111 

—    <1    <1 

322 

100    100    100 

100    100    100 

100    100    100 

100    100    100 

100     100     100 

1  This  information  was  not  obtainable  from  Maryville. 


458 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  50.  DISTRIBUTION  OF  RECIPIENTS  OF  DIPLOMAS  OB  CERTIFICATES  IN  1915  BY 
CLASSES  AMONG  THEIR  VARIOUS  SUBSEQUENT  OCCUPATIONS 


CURRICULUM 

Teaching  in : 

Rural  Schools 

Graded  Elementary  Schools 

High  Schools 

Normal  Schools  or  Colleges 

Other  Positions 
Superintendents 

(Number  teaching) 

Total  Teaching 
Students 
Others 
No  Record 

(Diplomas  or  certificates  issued) 


Four-Year     Three-Year   Two-Year 
Collegiate      Collegiate      Collegiate 


11 
53 
17 

19 
100 
(36) 

74 
20 
4 

2 

100 
(49) 


2.5 

21 
59 
2.5 
1 

14 
100 
(89)1 

74 

10 

13 

3 

100 
(121) 


11 
56 
28 
1 
1 

3 

100 
(338)1 

76 

13 

10 

2 

100 
(449) 


One-Year 
Collegiate 


32 


1 

2 

100 
(517)1 

72 
16 
5 

7 

100 
(720) 


Rural 
Certificate 


84 
16 


100 
(245) 


100 
(330) 


Total 


34 

44 

17 

1 

1 

3 

100 
(1225)1 

73 
13 

8 

6 

100 
(1669) 


§VI.  TEACHING  POPULATION2 

TABLE  51.  TEACHERS  IN  GRADED  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS,  1915.  DURATION  OF  NORMAL 

SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE 


Terms : 
One 
Two 
Three 
Four 
Five 
Six 

One  year  or  more 
Two  years  or  more 
Three  years  or  more 
Four  years  or  more 
TOTAL  NUMBER 


KIRKSVILLE      WARRENSBURG    C.  GIRARDEAU        SPRINGFIELD      MARYVILLE 


23 
11 

15 

15 


66 

27 
11 

7 


27 

16 

15 

12 

5 

8 

57 

25 

11 

5 


20 
15 
15 


10 
65 


15 

7 


23 

20 

19 

14 

7 

6 

67 
17 
4 
1 


19 
16 
22 
10 
5 
10 


TOTAL 
No.  % 
364 
253 
256 
189 
103 
122 
935 
387 
149 

77 


23 
16 
17 

12 

7 


235 


529 


265 


421 


102 


1562 


TABLE  5%.  TEACHERS  IN  GRADED  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS,  1915.  PROPORTION"  OF  TERMS 
SPENT  AT  EACH  NORMAL  SCHOOL  IN  COLLEGIATE  WORK 


KlRKSVILLE 

WAR.RENSBURG 

C.  GIRARDEAU 

SPRINGFIELD 

MARYVILLE 

TOTAL 

No.  of  coll. 

No.  of  coll. 

No.  of  coll. 

No  of  coll. 

No.  of  coil. 

No.  of  coll. 

Teachers  in 

terms      % 

terms     % 

terms      % 

terms      % 

terms     % 

terms     % 

Larger  systems  3 

40         44* 

275          75 

29         78 

659         82 

21         64 

924          76 

Rest  of  state 

450          57 

910          66 

432          46 

306          49 

199         59 

2297          57 

TOTAL 

490          66 

1185          68 

461          48 

865          66 

220         59 

3221          61 

TABLE  53.  TEACHERS  IN  GRADED  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS,  1915.  DISTRIBUTION  OF  TERMS 

OF  COLLEGIATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE 
KIRKSVILLE     WARRENSBURG    C,  GIRARDEAU        SPRJLNGFLELD     MARYVILLE 


Teachers  in 
Larger  systems  8 
Rest  of  state 
TOTAL 


4 

19.5 
15 


39.5 
87 


3 
19 
14 


61 
13 
21 


TOTAL 
No.     % 
924    100 
2297    100 
3221    100 


1  Three,  seven,  twelve,  and  twenty-two  belonging  respectively  to  the  three-year,  two-year,  one-year,  and  total 
groups  failed  to  define  their  positions,  and  are  therefore  included  in  the  sub-totals  but  not  in  the  distribution. 

2  See  page  405.     3  See  page  364,  note  1.       *  The  remaining  terms  —56  per  cent—  were  devoted  to  secondary  work. 


TEACHING  POPULATION 


489 


TABLE  54.  TEACHERS  IN  GRADED  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS,  1915.  NUMBER  REPORTING 

COLLEGIATE  WORK  AT  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  WITH  AVERAGE  NUMBER  OF 
TERMS  OF  ATTENDANCE 


Teachers  in 
Larger  systems 
Rest  of  state 

KlRKSVILLE 

No.       No.  of 
terms 
9           4.4 
123           37 

WARRENSBURG 
No.       No.  of 
terms 
89          31 
264          3  4 

C.  GIRARDEAU 
No.       No.  of 
terms 
8          3.6 
136           3  2 

SPRINGFIELD 

No.       No  of 
terms 
157          3.6 

112          27 

MARYVILLE 
No.     No.  of 
terms 
6          3.5 
50           4 

TOTAL 

No.       No  of 
terms 
269           34 
685           3.4 

TOTAL 

132           37 

353           3.4 

144           32 

269           3.2 

56           3.9 

954           3.4 

TABLE  55.  TEACHERS  IN   GRADED  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS,   1915.  HIGH   SCHOOL   PREPARATION 
OF  1556  TEACHERS  WHO  HAD  ATTENDED  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 


KlRKSVILLE 

WARRENSBURG 
CAPE  GIRARDEAU 
SPRINGFIELD 
MARYVILLE 
TOTAL 


Less  than 
one  year 

% 
19 
10 
17 
6 

16 
12 


Less  than 
two  years 


35 
23 
35 
19 

28 


Less  than 
three  years 


46 
32 
50 
29 


Less  than 
four  years 


55 
44 
63 
43 
54 
49 


Four  years 
or  more 


45 
56 
37 
57 
46 
61 


TABLE   56.  HIGH  SCHOOL  TEACHERS,  1915  (EXCEPT  ST.  LOUIS  AND  KANSAS  CITY) 
DISTRIBUTION  OF  COLLEGIATE  TRAINING 


1st  Class 
High  Schools 

3d  <&  3d  Class 
High  Schools 

Total,  1st,  3d  <&  3d 
Class  High  Schools 

Unclassified 
High  Schools 

Men    Women    Both 

Men    Women    Both 

Men     Women     Both 
%           %            % 

Men  Women  Both 

Colleges  or  universities 

%            %           % 

%          %          % 

%          %         % 

only1 

55             53            53 

32           26            28 

60            J,6             47 

9           S7          20 

Mo.  State  University 

39            36            37 

31           SI            23 

37             S3             84 

9            Ik          12 

Mo.  State  University 

only 

8            lit.            13 

867 

8             IS              11 

555 

Mo.  State  Normal 

Schools  only 

13             13            13 

27           SU            32 

16            18             17 

36          SB         37 

Colleges  or  universities 

and  Mo.  State  Normal 

Schools 

25             29            28 

22           BO            28 

24            %9              28 

14           19          17 

Secondary  work  only  at 

high  school,  academy, 

or  normal  school 

166 

19           10            12 

10              7               8 

41           IB          26 

TOTAL 

(212^100  (636)100  (838)100 

(59)100  (177)100  (236)100 

(271)100  (808)100  (1074)100 

(22)100  (37)100  (59)100 

TABLE  57.   HIGH  SCHOOL    TEACHERS,  1915  (EXCEPT   ST.  LOUIS   AND   KANSAS  CITY) 
DISTRIBUTION  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOL  TRAINING3 


1st  Class 
High  Schools 

Sd  <&  3d  Class 
High  Schools 

Total  lst,2d<£3d 
Class  High  Schools 

Unclassified 
High  Schools 

Men    Women    Both 

%Qfn                  Of,. 

Men    Women   Both 

%OL                  OjL 

Men    Women    Both 

%(%               Cf^ 

Men    Women    Both 

%%          <% 

KlRKSVILLE 

/o           /o 

25            #7            27 

24            18            20 

25            SU            25 

16            f7            22 

WARRENSBURG 

36            hU            42 

17             J+9             42 

30            US            42 

21            &            22 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

19              9            11 

20             n            14 

19             10            12 

37             IS            27 

SPRINGFIELD 

14            16            15 

34            18            21 

21             16            17 

21             15.5         18 

MARYVILLE 

6              U              5 

5              #              3 

5              A              4 

5            15.5         11 

TOTAL 

Ol^lOO  (298)100  (389)100 

(41)100  (1S$)100  (173)100 

(132)100  (t*SO)10Q  (562)100 

(19)100     (26)100    (45)100 

1  Includes  three  per  cent  who  did  secondary  but  no  collegiate  work  at  a  normal  school. 

2  Figures  in  parenthesis  indicate  the  total  number  on  which  the  percentage  is  based. 
8  Includes  all  secondary  and  collegiate  work. 


440 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  58.  SUBJECTS  TAUGHT  BY  MISSOURI  HIGH  SCHOOL  TEACHERS  AND  SUPERVISORS, 

1916-171 


FIRST  CLASS  SCHOOLS 
One  Subject                    Men 
English                                            26     (5)3 
Mathematics                                61   (21) 
History                                            37   (12) 

Women 
137   (9) 
63   (3) 
76   (2) 

Both 
163 
114 
113 

Math.,  Histoiy  &  Science 
Math.,  Sci.  &  Com.  Subjects 
Fifty-three  other  combinations 
Sub-total 

Men 
5     (2) 
5     (4) 
36    (26) 
95   (76) 

Women 
1 

1*5(13} 
85  (19) 

Both 
6 
5 

81 
180 

Household  Arts 

69 

69 

Four  Subjects 

Science 

55 

(10) 

Ik 

69 

Six  combinations 

7 

(6) 

2 

9 

Commercial  Subjects 

29 

(5) 

38 

67 

Five  Subjects 

Manual  Training 

54 

54 

Two  combinations 

1 

(1) 

1 

2 

Music 

9 

S3 

42 

Teacher  Training 
Latin 

27 
9 

(24) 
(2) 

IB 
28 

(1) 

40 
37 

SECOND  AND  THIRD  CLASS  SCHOOLS 

German 

4 

(2) 

17 

21 

One  Subject 

Drawing 

4 

15 

19 

Household  Arts 

7 

7 

Physical  Culture 

10 

7 

17 

Mathematics 

2 

(2) 

I 

6 

Five  other  subjects  2 

8 

(3) 

8 

16 

English 

1 

5 

6 

Sub-total 

323 

(84) 

518  (.26) 

841 

History 

2 

(1) 

It- 

(1) 

6 

Latin 

5 

5 

Two  Subjects 

Four  other  subjects 

2 

5 

7 

English  &  Latin 

2 

5% 

(8) 

54 

Sub-total 

7 

(3) 

SO 

(jf) 

37 

English  &  History 

6 

(1) 

IS 

03) 

54 

Agriculture  &  Science 

47 

(33) 

2 

49 

Two  Subjects 

Latin  &  German 

3 

37 

(2) 

40 

English  &  History 

13 

(8) 

uo 

(9) 

53 

Mathematics  &  Science 

26 

(16) 

0) 

38 

English  &  Latin 

25 

(8) 

25 

Mathematics  &  History 

13 

(10) 

16 

(3) 

29 

History  &  Agriculture 

15 

(13) 

2 

(1) 

17 

Mathematics  &  Latin 

6 

(3) 

%1 

(2) 

27 

Mathematics  &  History 

6 

(5) 

6 

(3) 

12 

History  &  Latin 

7 

(3) 

19 

(3) 

26 

English  &  Mathematics 

2 

(1) 

12 

(4) 

14 

English  &  Mathematics 

2 

20 

(1) 

22 

Mathematics  &  Agriculture 

8 

(7) 

8 

English  &  German 

15 

co 

15 

Mathematics  &  Science 

4 

(3) 

U 

a) 

8 

English  &  Science 

6 

(3) 

7 

13 

History  &  Latin 

1 

(1) 

5 

(s) 

6 

History  &  Agriculture 

10 

(10) 

3 

68) 

13 

Mathematics  &  Latin 

1 

(1) 

5 

(2} 

6 

History  &  German 

1 

1$ 

13 

History  &  Science 

4 

(3) 

1 

6 

History  &  Household  Arts 

n 

12 

Eighteen  other  combinations 

10 

(7) 

18 

a) 

28 

English  &  Teacher  Training 

is 

12 

Sub-total 

64 

(49) 

118(35) 

182 

Mathematics  &  Agriculture 

10 

(9) 

i 

11 

TJiree  Subjects 

Mathematics  &  Com  Subjects 

8 

(4) 

B 

a) 

11 

Mathematics,  Science  &  Agri. 

32 

(31) 

1 

33 

Math.  &  Manual  Training 

1 

(1) 

9 

(s) 

10 

English,  History  &  Latin, 

3 

(2) 

29  ( 

u») 

32 

Agri.  &  Teacher  Training 

7 

(5) 

1 

8 

Math.,  Agriculture  &  History 

24 

(24) 

1 

25 

English  &  Household  Arts 

8 

8 

English,  Mathematics  &  Latin 

3 

(3) 

9 

(2) 

12 

History  &  Science 

7 

(5) 

1 

(1) 

8 

'  History,  Science  &  Agriculture 

8 

(8) 

1 

(1) 

9 

Mathematics  &  German 

8 

co 

8 

English,  Math.  &  Agriculture 

7 

(7) 

CO 

9 

Math.  &  Manual  Training 

8 

(3) 

8 

Math.,  Agriculture  &  Latin 

7 

(7) 

1 

(i) 

8 

Teacher  Training  &  History 

4 

(2) 

3 

7 

English,  Math.  &  Science 

2 

(1) 

U 

co 

6 

German  &  Teacher  Training 

6 

a) 

6 

Mathematics,  History  &  Latin 

3 

(3) 

S 

6 

Math.  &  Household  Arts 

5 

5 

Mathematics,  Science  &  Latin 

2 

(2) 

S 

a) 

5 

Fifty-six  other  combinations 

30. 

(12) 

53 

(s) 

83 

Forty-eight  other  combinations 

34 

(27) 

09) 

62 

Sub-total 

204  (120) 

S86  (37) 

590 

Sub-total 

125  (115) 

82  (28) 

207 

Three  Subjects 

Four  Subjects 

Math.,  Science  &  Agriculture 

31 

(28) 

6 

(1) 

37 

Twenty-seven  combinations 

55 

(52) 

8 

(5) 

63 

History,  Science  &  Agriculture 

13 

(12) 

2 

(%) 

15 

History,  Latin  &  German 
English,  Latin  &  German 

3 

(2) 

11 

8 

(1) 

11 
11 

Five  Subjects 
Eight  combinations 

58 

(55) 

7 

(7), 

65 

English,  Math.  &  History 

8 

8 

Six  Subjects 

Math.,  History  &  Latin 

2 

(2) 

U 

(1) 

6 

Three  combinations 

4 

(3) 

4 

1  Data  are  complete  for  all  classified  high  schools  in  the  state  as  given  in  the  state  high  school  directory  for  1916-17. 
3  Subjects  or  subject  combinations  offered  by  fewer  than  five  teachers  each  are  not  listed. 

8  Figures  in  parenthesis  give  the  number  of  principals  or  superintendents  teaching  the  subject.  These  are  included 
in  the  main  figure. 


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442  APPENDIX 

§  VIII.  THE  JUDGMENT  OF  EXPERIENCED  TEACHERS 
As  TO  THE  VALUE  OF  VARIOUS  ELEMENTS  IN  THEIR  TRAINING 

IN  order  to  discover,  if  possible,  the  judgment  of  experienced  Missouri  teachers  as 
to  the  elements  in  their  preparation  to  which  they  were  chiefly  indebted,  a  list  of 
questions  was  sent  to  a  group  of  teaching  graduates  both  of  the  normal  schools  and 
of  the  university.  One  hundred  sixty-three  responded,1  of  whom  thirty-six  had  taught 
only  in  elementary  schools,  twenty-nine  only  in  high  schools,  and  ninety-five  in  both; 
three  gave  no  record  of  their  service.  The  range  of  experience  was  from  three  to 
twenty -five  years,  with  a  median  of  seven  years.  It  seemed  advisable  to  present  all  the 
replies  in  one  group.  Except  in  certain  respects,  noted  below,  the  reports  from  the 
graduates  of  the  university  agreed  approximately  with  those  from  the  normal  schools. 
It  should  be  remembered  further  that  the  training  in  either  institution  probably 
varied  quite  as  much  at  different  periods  as  the  form  of  training  in  the  normal  schools 
differed  from  that  in  the  university  at  any  given  time.  Consequently  only  the  most 
general  inferences  may  be  drawn  from  the  results. 

In  the  following  account  the  wording  of  the  questionnaire  is  retained,  but  the  order 
of  topics  is  that  of  the  choice  expressed  in  the  replies. 

I.  Which  kind  of  preparation  has  contributed  more  to  your  success  as  a  teacher: 

1.  Preparation  in  various  ways  in  the  light  of  experience  (91),  or 

2.  Training  received  in  normal  school  or  college  before  taking  a  regular  position  (63) 

NOTE:  On  this  question  the  decision  in  favor  of  the  first  was  reversed  by  the  university  graduates  considered 
alone  to  a  majority  of  one  in  favor  of  the  second.  The  votes  at  Maryville  and  Warrensburgwere  tied. 

II.  Which  group  of  courses  has  been  of  greater  benefit  to  you: 

1.  Academic  courses  in  subject-matter  to  be  taught  (95),  or 

2.  Professional  courses  in  the  theory,  history,  and  practice  of  education  (63) 

NOTE  :  Among  votes  from  the  university  and  from  Kirksville  the  proportion  was  3  to  1.  Maryville  alone  reversed 
the  conclusion,  5-9. 

III.  Number  the  following  courses  in  the  order  of  their  practical  helpfulness  in  your  present  work: 

Ranking  (see  Note) 

1.  Courses  in  special  method  in  subjects  you  are  teaching  1.805 

2.  Courses  in  general  method  or  principles  of  teaching  1.664 

3.  Courses  in  psychology  1.591 

4.  Practice  teaching  with  supervision  1.444 

5.  Courses  in  school  administration  1.442 

6.  Courses  in  school  management  '                1.351 

7.  Observation  of  teaching  with  discussion  1.270 

8.  Courses  in  particular  city  or  state  courses  of  study  MS 

9.  Courses  in  history  of  education  .168 
10.  Other  professional  courses  .000 

NOTE:  See  "The  Technique  of  Combining  Incomplete  Judgments  of  the  Relative  Positions  of  N  Facts  made  by 
N  Judges/'by  Professor  EX.Thorndike  in  the  Journal  of  Philosophy,  Psychology,  and  Scientific  Methods,  April 
13, 1916,  page  197.  The  column  at  the  right  expresses  the  distance  in  "Q"  units  of  each  subject  from  the  lowest. 
(See  Thorndike's  Mental  and  Social  Measurements,  Table  69.) 

IV.  Number  the  following  possible  elements  of  training  as  in  III  Banking 

1.  Self-criticism  as  a  result  of  independent  experience  3.711 

£.  Influence  of  example  of  particular  teachers  with  whom  you  have  studied  3.  £52 

3.  Criticism  from  superintendents,  principals,  or  other  supervisors  . 

4.  Books  on  teaching  which  you  have  read  independently 

5.  Periodicals  for  teachers  1.210 

6.  Work  in  literary  or  debating  societies                                                                  ,  *981 

7.  Any  other  element  especially  important  to  you2  .640 

8.  Work  in  county  institutes  .000 

1  The  replies  were  distributed  as  follows  among  the  different  schools :  Kirksville,  25 ;  Warrensburg,  26 ;  Cape  Girar- 
deau,  34;  Springfield,  85;  Maryville,  14;  University  of  Missouri,  29. 

2  Visiting  schools,  travel,  school  surveys,  teachers  associations,  conferences  with  teachers  or  parents  or  pupils, 
daily  papers,  club  work,  family  traditions,  outside  interests. 


RESULTS  OF  STANDARD  TESTS  443 

§IX.  THE  RESULTS  OF  STANDARD  TESTS 
IN  THE  ELEMENTARY  TRAINING  DEPARTMENTS  OF  MISSOURI  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

AND  IN  THE  EXPERIMENTAL  SCHOOL1  AT  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY 

THE  tests  employed  aimed  to  measure  the  work  done  in  reading,  writing,  arithmetic, 
spelling,  and  composition,  and  were  given  in  May,  July,  and  October,  1 91 6.  In  order  to 
note  the  possible  effect  of  giving  the  tests  at  different  times  of  the  year,  the  school  at 
Cape  Girardeau,  which  was  tested  in  May,  was  retested  by  another  examiner  in  Octo- 
ber, with  similar  results.  It  may  be  concluded,  therefore,  that  neither  the  lapse  of  the 
few  months'  time  nor  the  possibility  of  opportunities  for  practice  had  any  apprecia- 
ble effect.  In  the  tabulation  of  the  results  the  pupils  were  listed  in  the  grades  in  which 
they  were  enrolled  in  May.  The  testing  was  done  by  five  graduate  students2  of  the 
Division  of  Education  of  Harvard  University  under  the  direction  of  Walter  F.  Dear- 
born, professor  of  education  at  that  university.  Special  care  was  given  to  the  train- 
ing of  the  examiners  in  order  that  the  methods  of  conducting  the  tests  might  be  uni- 
form. In  the  dictation  of  words  for  spelling,  and  in  one  of  the  reading  tests,  the  exam- 
iners were  assisted  by  selected  teachers  in  the  several  schools. 

The  correcting  and  scoring  of  all  the  papers  were  done  by  two,  and  in  some  in- 
stances by  three,  of  the  examiners.  In  those  cases  where  the  personal  factor  might 
enter  into  the  rating,  every  paper  was  scored  independently  by  each  of  the  readers. 
The  penmanship  papers  were  graded  by  three  of  the  examiners,  who  practised  until 
they  had  attained  a  high  degree  of  uniformity  in  their  judgments.  After  practice, 
their  final  ratings  fell  within  one  step  in  terms  of  the  Ayres  scale.  Similarly  all  of 
the  papers  in  composition  were  read  by  two  of  the  examiners  who  had  thru  prac- 
tice acquired  an  equal  proficiency  in  rating  the  papers.  When  there  were  small  dif- 
ferences in  the  judgments,  the  average  was  taken.  It  is  believed  that  many  errors 
which  inevitably  appear  when  the  work  of  correcting  is  done  by  teachers  and  pupils 
have  been  eliminated  by  having  a  limited  number  of  trained  readers  for  the  work. 
The  skill  and  insight  attained  by  the  examiners  thru  practice  is  cumulative.  The  time 
consumed  in  correcting  is  decreased,  while  the  accuracy  of  the  work  is  increased,  and 
the  results  are  interpreted  with  greater  discernment  and  uniformity. 

All  that  these  tests  assume  to  do  is  to  determine  the  attainments  of  the  pupils  in 
the  schools  at  the  time  the  tests  were  given.  It  is  quite  possible  that  in  some  of  the 
classes  the  pupils  are  drawn  from  an  inferior  school  population.  It  was  stated  in  one 
school,  for  example,  that  many  of  the  pupils  were  recruited  from  a  "floating "popu- 
lation. Some  of  the  classes  were  very  small.  In  such  classes  it  is  of  course  possible  to 
have  by  mere  chance  relatively  inferior  or  relatively  superior  groups.  Some  indica- 
tion of  the  character  of  these  classes  has  been  secured  from  a  study  of  the  age-grade 
distribution. 

1  The  experimental  school  at  Columbia  was  included  among  the  schools  at  which  tests  were  given,  because  the  in- 
tention at  the  time  was  to  publish  the  discussion  of  the  preparation  of  teachers  at  the  University  of  Missouri  with 
the  present  volume,  and  to  include  therewith  a  careful  examination  of  this  undertaking-.  This  proved  not  to  be  feas- 
ible, as  explained  in  the  Introduction.  It  seemed  unnecessary,  however,  on  this  account  to  omit  the  results  of  the 
tests  at  Columbia,  inasmuch  as  to  do  so  would  have  required  a  reworking  of  a  large  portion  of  the  material  in 
which  the  Columbia  data  had  been  included.  It  should  be  noted  that  this  Institution  is  unlike  the  other  schools,  in 
that  it  is  not  conducted  as  a  training  school  for  teachers,  but  for  experimental  purposes,  with  special  reference  to 
the  curriculum.  On  this  basis,  the  pupils  are  not  led  to  give  their  attention  to  the  formal  studies  which  are  the  sub- 
jects of  these  tests.  The  results  at  Columbia  should  be  interpreted,  therefore,  only  in  the  light  of  the  whole  procedure 
at  that  school. 

2  Messrs.  H.  B,  Cummings,  L.  P.  Damon,  E.  A.  Lincoln,  C,  A.  Puckett,  and  E.  A.  Shaw. 


444  APPENDIX 

The  results  are  stated  In  the  tables  in  terms  of  the  averages  or  medians,  depend- 
ing generally  on  the  method  of  presenting  standards  in  the  studies  with  which  it 
is  desired  to  make  comparison.  It  has  been  found  that  even  for  the  small  number  of 
cases  studied  in  these  schools  the  median,  which  is  secured  with  comparatively  little 
labor,  is  in  close  agreement  with  the  average  in  nearly  all  cases.  When  this  was  not 
the  case,  the  median  was  usually  more  representative  of  the  group  than  the  average. 
Several  methods  of  comparing  the  relative  standing  qf  the  various  schools  and  grades 
have  been  employed.  This  has  been  necessary  because  of  the  small  number  of  cases 
involved  in  most  of  the  comparisons,  but  also  because  of  other  considerations.  The 
average  or  median  standing  of  the  various  grades  has  generally  been  used  for  inter- 
grade  comparisons;  but,  in  the  inter-school  comparisons,  since  the  work  of  the  upper 
grades  is  more  representative  of  what  the  schools  have  accomplished  than  that  of  the 
lower  grades,  the  standing  of  the  former  grades  may  properly  be  given  greater  weight. 
Since  our  tests  of  the  eighth  grades  are  sometimes  incomplete,  the  average  or  median 
standing  of  the  sixth  and  seventh  grades  taken  together  has  been  secured  for  this 
comparison.1 

The  maximum  number  of  pupils  tested  is  shown  in  Table  59  by  schools  and  grades. 
Because  of  absences,  the  number  of  papers  obtained  in  any  given  test  was  often  one 
or  two  less  than  the  number  appearing  in  the  table.  Columbia  has  no  eighth  grade, 
and,  as  there  is  no  ninth  grade  at  Maryville  or  Kirksville,  no  results  for  the  eighth 
grade  could  be  obtained  in  the  October  testing  of  these  schools.  For  these  reasons 
the  results  from  the  eighth  grade  have  not  been  used  in  the  inter-school  compari- 
sons, but  are  summarized  for  all  the  normal  schools  for  the  sake  of  comparisons  with 
standards  or  other  records. 


1  The  above  method  of  ranking  did  not  always  prove  adequate  to  express  all  the  facts,  and  in  questionable  cases 
several  other  methods  have  been  used.  The  supplementary  methods  employed  are  the  following:  (1)  Upper  Grade 
Median  Method '  Comparison  of  standing:  of  pupils  in  each  grade  with  that  of  the  pupils  in  the  preceding-  grade, 
with  special  reference  to  the  standing  of  the  seventh  grade  as  compared  with  that  of  the  second  or  third  grade. 
Obviously,  the  efficiency  of  a  school  can  be  judged  in  part  by  the  evidence  of  superior  or  inferior  accomplishment 
on  the  part  of  the  later  grades  as  compared  with  the  earlier  grades  of  the  school.  It  is  true  that  the  attainments, 
e.g.,  of  an  exceptional  third  grade  when  compared  with  an  inferior  eighth  might  seem  to  indicate  that  the  school 
had  not  accomplished  much,  and  this  possibility  limits  somewhat  the  usability  of  the  method.  The  average  age  of 
the  pupils  in  such  a  third  grade  in  comparison  with  the  age  of  the  pupils  in  the  eighth  grade  may  in  some  instances 
explain  this  result.  The  method  has,  therefore,  always  been  supplemented  by  a  study  of  the  age-grade  relationships. 
If,  for  example,  the  average  age  of  the  pupils  in  the  various  grades  increases  uniformly,  but  the  relative  attainments 
of  the  pupils  advance  more  rapidly,  this  can  usually  be  taken  as  evidence  of  the  superior  efficiency  of  training 
rather  than  as  evidence  of  the  mere  maturity  of  the  pupils.  Some  very  striking  evidence  of  the  close  relationship 
between  age  and  school  attainment  will  appear  in  the  tables.  For  the  present  it  is  enough  to  say  that  the  relation- 
ship seems  so  close  that,  when  there  is  some  irregularity  in  school  progress,  a  reference  to  the  age-grade  table  will 
almost  invariably  explain  the  difference.  The  striking  instances  in  this  report  of  the  relative  superiority  of  a  suc- 
ceeding grade  over  a  preceding  one  can  in  most  cases  be  explained  in  this  way.  (2)  Comparison  in  terms  of  the  sum 
of  the  relative  ranks  of  the  separate  grades:  By  this  method  each  of  the  grades  is  considered  separately.  For 
example,  the  second  grades  of  all  the  schools  studied  are  ranked  according  to  their  relative  standing  in  a  given 
test.  Next,  the  third  and  the  subsequent  grades  are  handled  in  the  same  way.  Then  the  relative  standing  of  the 
school  as  a  whole  is  judged  by  the  sum  of  the  first,  second,  third,  etc.,  ranks  secured  by  the  various  grades.  This 
method  has  the  advantage  of  giving  weight  to  the  attainments  of  the  earlier  grades,  and  thus  it  supplements  the 
first  two  methods  which  rate  the  schools  chiefly  on  the  basis  of  the  attainments  of  the  later  grades.  It  should  be 
said,  however,  that  it  is  a  fair  assumption  that  relative  superiority  in  the  earlier  grades  is  likely  to  be  indicative 
of  the  selection  of  a  superior  group  rather  than  excellence  of  school  training ;  but  this  is  not  always  true.  There- 
fore, altho  it  is  believed  that  the  first  two  methods  outlined  above  are  on  the  whole  better,  it  has  seemed  fair 
to  give  some  weight  in  judging  the  school  as  a  whole  to  the  accomplishments  of  the  pupils  of  the  earlier  grades. 
This  method  of  comparison  will  be  spoken  of  as  the  Rank-Sum  method.  (3)  At  times  the  best  results  are  obtained 
by  a  direct  study  of  the  distributions  or  frequency  tables  of  the  results  of  the  tests.  These  give  a  record  of  each 
individual  score,  and  thus  often  throw  considerable  light  on  the  above  mentioned  problems  of  comparison. 

The  tables  show  two  rankings.  The  first  of  these  is  based  on  the  scores  of  the  combined  sixth  and  seventh  grades ; 
the  second  and  final  ranking  will  take  into  consideration  all  the  other  methods  of  comparison  above  described. 


RESULTS  OF  STANDARD  TESTS  445 

TABLE  59.  NUMBER  OF  PUPILS  BY  SCHOOLS  AND  GRADES 

Grade  2345678  Total 

KIKKSVILLE  19                    16                     17                     13                    25                    19  9  118 

WARRENSBURG  15                   21                   15                   20                   21                   41  32  165 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU  22                     9                    13                    15                    18                    23  10  111 

SPRINGFIELD  16                    16                    16                    12                    16                   ,17  14  107 

MARYVILLE                 6                   10                   10                   16                     8                   12  10  72 

COLUMBIA  IE                   10                   19                   11                   13_                 J4  _0  -1£ 

Grade  Totals  90                   82                   90                   87                   96                 126  81  652 

A  study  of  the  ages  is  important  because  of  the  light  thrown  on  the  question  of 
the  mental  calibre  of  the  classes.  Other  things  being  equal,  it  is  likely  that  a  grade 
composed  of  older  pupils  is  an  inferior  grade,  and,  conversely,  a  grade  composed  of 
younger  pupils  is  likely  to  be  a  superior  one.  For  valid  comparisons,  then,  the  me- 
dian ages  of  the  pupils  in  the  grades,  schools,  or  systems  compared  should  be  the 
same.  This  condition  is  not  fulfilled.  The  medians  of  the  combined  grades  progress 
regularly,  and  with  equal  deviations,  beginning  at  8  years  in  the  second  grade,  and 

TABLE  60.   MEDIAN  AGES  OF  PUPILS  BY  GRADES 
Grade         234  56  78 

KIRKSVILLE  81  19  9  16  10  17  12  13  12  25  13  19  14  9 

(1)  (1)  (1)  (1)  (0)  (0)  (1) 

WARRENSBURG  8  15  9  SI  9  15  11  20  11  21  13  LL  14  31 
(0)  (1)  (1)  (1)  (1)  (1)  (1) 

CAFE  GIRARDEAU  8  22  99  10  IS  11  15  12  13  12  23  14  16 
(0)  (0)  (1)  (1)  (1)  (1)  (1) 


COLUMBIA  8    12  9    10  10    19  11    11  12    13  18.  1A  — 

(0)  (1)  (0)  (1)  (1)  (1) 

Grade  Medians       8    90  9    52  10    89  n    87  12 \96  13  1*3  14^50 

reaching  14  in  the  eighth.  But  in  the  separate  schools  this  regularity  is  found  only 
in  Columbia.  The  age  problem  may  be  handled  in  another  way  by  studying  the  re- 
tardation and  acceleration  of  individuals  in  each  grade.  Tables  61  and  62  show  the 
findings  on  this  basis.  A  pupil  was  considered  retarded  if  he  was  two  or  more  years 
older  than  the  group  median  age  for  his  grade.  He  was  considered  accelerated  if  he 
was  two  years  younger  than  the  grade  median.  In  Kirksville,  Maryville,  and  Warrens- 

TABLE  61.  NUMBER  AND  PEE.  CENT  OF  PUPILS  TWO  OR  MORE  YEARS  RETARDED 

Grade          2  3  4                    5                    6  7                    8            All  Grades 

No  %  No.  %  No.  %           No.  %  No.  %  No.  %  No.  %             No.  % 

KIRKSVILLE               4    21  16  424              323  624  15  222              21    19 

WARRENSBURG          0  2  10  17              5    25  5    24  6    14  4    13             23    14 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU      0  0  0                     3    20  3    23  14  3    19              10     9 

SPRINGFIELD            0  0  0                   0  0  0  1717 

MARYVILLE                2    33  116  3    30              3    19  16  3    25  3    30              15    21 

COLUMBIA                   0  0  150  3    23  0  -                     45 

burg  there  is  a  fairly  large  amount  of  retardation  throughout  the  grades.  The  first 
two  schools  have  retarded  pupils  in  every  grade,  the  latter  in  every  grade  but  one. 
In  Cape  Girardeau  the  retardation  comes  in  the  last  four  grades.  In  both  Springfield 

1  The  first  figure  is  the  median  age  of  the  grade  group;  the  figure  in  italics  to  the 
children  in  the  grade;  and  the  figure  below  in  parenthesis  gives  the  median  deviate 


n  °f 

the  grade  median. 


446  APPENDIX 

and  Columbia  the  retardation  is  negligible  except  in  one  grade.  It  is  apparent  that,  ex- 
cept in  the  case  of  Warrensburg,  acceleration  in  these  schools  is  not  nearly  so  frequent 
as  retardation.  Such  as  occurs  is  concentrated  for  the  most  part  in  one  or  two  grades. 

TABLE  62.  NUMBER  AND  PEE  CENT  OF  PUPILS  TWO  Oil  MORE  YEABS  ACCELERATED 

Grade          2                   34                   5                    6                    7                   8  All  Grades 

No.  %  No.  %            No.  %            No.  %            No.  %            No.  %            No.  %  No.  % 

KiRKSVILLE                0  0                      1618280                      0  44 

WARRENSBURG          0  2    10              17              0                     9    43              5    12              27  19    12 

CAPE  GIKARDEAU      0                       0                      18               17               18               4    17               2    12  98 

SPRINGFIELD             16  16             16              19              0                    17              0  55 

MARYVILLE               0  0                     0                     160                     2160  34 

COLUMBIA                 0  0                    0                    0                    0                    17—  11 

To  conclude :  The  study  of  the  ages  of  pupils  points  out  probable  differences  in  the 
mental  make-up  of  the  pupils  in  the  different  schools,  and  of  pupils  of  the  different 
grades  in  the  same  school,  which  must  be  kept  in  mind  when  the  results  from  the 
various  schools  are  compared. 

1.  Arithmetic  Tests 

Two  series  of  tests  were  given  in  arithmetic:  first,  the  Courtis  Tests  (Series  B),1 
and  second,  the  Stone  Reasoning  Tests.  The  findings  in  the  four  fundamental  pro- 
cesses of  addition,  subtraction,  multiplication,  and  division  are  stated  separately, 
and  a  rank  in  all  four  of  the  processes  combined  has  been  attempted.  It  will  be  seen 
from  the  table  that  the  con-elation  between  the  standings  in  the  different  tests  is  not 
a  perfect  one.  There  is,  however,  a  decided  tendency  for  a  school  to  hold  approxi- 
mately the  same  rank  throughout  the  tests  in  both  speed  and  accuracy,  and  for  this 
reason  the  final  ranking  is  probably  valid.  A  further  ranking  may  be  made  by  com- 
bining the  standings  in  speed  and  accuracy.  In  this  Cape  Girardeau  stands  first. 
Springfield  and  Mary  ville  seem  practically  tied  for  the  second  place,  but  the  higher 
rank  should  probably  go  to  the  former  school  on  the  basis  of  greater  accuracy  in  the 
work.  Warrensburg,  Columbia,  and  Kirksville  follow  in  the  order  named. 

TABLE  63.  SPEED  OF  ADDITION 

Grade  3  4  6  6  7  8  6and7  combined         Final 

Score  Rank         Rarikz 

KIRKSVILLE  44666-6  5.5 

WARRENSBURG  3  5  6  6  8  -  7  2. 53 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU  34688-  J  11 

SPRINGFIELD  2  4  6  6  6  -  6  6  5. 5 

MABYVIIXE  56678  -7  2.5  2 

COLUMBIA  23576-654 

All  Schools  3466786 

Courtis  Standards  7  9  10  11  12 

Small  Cities3  7  8  9  10  10 

1  The  Courtis  Tests  (Series  B)  consist  of  a  set  of  twenty-four  examples  for  each  of  the  operations  in  arithmetic :  ad- 
dition, subtraction,  multiplication,  and  division.  There  is  a  definite  time  allotment  for  each  set.  In  giving  the  test 
each  child  is  provided  with  a  folder  containing  the  four  sets  of  examples,  and  is  carefully  instructed  as  to  what  he 
is  to  do.  At  a  signal  from  the  tester,  all  the  children  begin  work  on  the  first  set  of  examples,  and  they  continue  until 
time  is  called.  The  same  method  of  procedure  is  used  for  each  set  in  turn.  Between  the  second  and  third  sets  a  short 
rest  period  is  given  the  children.  The  results  are  shown  in  terms  of  **  Speed  "  and  "  Accuracy"  in  accordance  with 
the  more  recent  tables  of  Courtis,  the  former  being  the  actual  number  of  examples  attempted  within  the  required 
time,  and  the  latter  the  percentage  of  the  number  of  attempts  that  were  done  correctly. 

2  Courtis's  General  Tabulation,  Small  Cities,  June,  1916. 

8  It  seems  unnecessary  in  connection  with  each  of  the  following  tests  to  review  all  of  the  considerations  by  which 
the  final  rank  of  the  schools  was  determined.  As  an  illustration  of  the  process,  however,  the  procedure  in  the  pres- 


RESULTS  OF  STANDAED  TESTS 


447 


Grade 


KlRKSVILLE 

WARRENSBORG 
CAPE  GIRARDEAU 
SPRINGFIELD 
MARYVILLE 
COLUMBIA 

All  Schools 
Courtis  Standards 
Small  Cities 


0 
0 
0 
0 

25 
0 


TABLE  64.  ACCURACY  OF  ADDITION 
45678 


25 
25 
20 
25 

67 
0 

20 
64 
60 


20 
38 
43 
50 
50 
50 

40 
70 
68 


38 
33 

60 
50 


44 
73 
71 


50 
50 
67 
64 
40 
60 

50 

75 

72 


50 
76 

74 


6  and  7  combined 
Score  Rank 


40 

44 

63 

56 

40  * 

40 


Mnal 
Rank 


Grade 

KlRKSVILLE 

WARRENSBURG 
CAPE  GIRARDEAU 
SPRINGFIELD 
MARYVILLE 
COLUMBIA 


All  Schools  2 

Courtis  Standards 
Small  Cities 


TABLE  65.  SPEED  OF  SUBTRACTION 

5678 


5 
5 
8 
8 
9 
6 

6 
10 
10 


12 
11 


10 
13 
12 


6  and  7  combined 
Score          Rank 

Final 
Rank 

5 

6 

6 

7 

4.5 

4 

S 

2.5 

2.5 

8 

2.5 

2.5 

9 

1 

1 

7 

4.5 

5 

Grade        3 


TABLE  66.  ACCURACY  OF  SUBTRACTION 


6 


8 


6  and  7  combined 
Score  Rank 


Final 
Rank 


KlRKSVILLE 

0 

WARRENSBURG 

0 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

0 

SPRINGFIELD 

25 

MARYVILLE 

0 

COLUMBIA 

0 

All  Schools 

0 

Courtis  Standards 

Small  Cities 

0 

40 
50 
20 
80 

0 

20 
80 
76 


60 
63 
71 
60 
50 


40 
67 
55 
75 
55 
43 

57 
85 
84 


60 
78 
70 
67 
67 
86 

76 
86 
85 


67 
87 
85 


40 
77 
63 
70 
63 
83 

67 


2 
4.5 


4.5 

1 


ent  case  is  given  in  full.  As  may  be  seen  from  the  table,  Cape  Girardeau  leads  with  8  examples  attempted.  Maryville 
and  Warrensburg  are  tied  with  7  attempts  each.  The  variability  of  the  Warrensburg  median  is,  however,  twice  as 
great  as  that  of  Maryville,  and  since  the  latter  school  ranks  decidedly  superior  to  Warrensburg-  by  the  Rank-Sura 
method  of  comparison,  it  seems  that  Maryville  should  have  the  second  place.  In  the  table,  Columbia,  Kirksville,  and 
Springfield  all  rank  the  same,  each  having  6  attempts  as  a  median  in  the  combined  sixth  and  seventh  grades.  From 
an  examination  of  the  distributions  it  appears  that  Columbia  should  be  ranked  slightly  ahead  of  the  other  two.  The 
results  in  Springfield  are  striking  in  that  there  is  no  progress  after  the  fifth  grade.  This  suggests  the  possibility  of  an 
inferior  seventh  grade,  -—a  possibility  which  has  already  been  indicated  by  the  study  of  the  age-grade  distributions. 
This  school  also  has  a  smaller  variability  than  Kirksville,  but  on  the  other  hand,  the  Rank-Sum  method  shows  that 
they  are  not  materially  different.  With  all  the  above  considerations  in  mind  it  seems  that  the  ranking  by  the  upper 
grade  medians  should  be  modified  slightly,and  thatthefinal  ranking  should  be  as  follows:  (1)  Cape  Girardeau;  (2) 
Maryville ;  (3)  Warrensburg ;  (4)  Columbia ;  (5)  Springfield  and  Kirksville. 

1  The  inconsistency  of  this  median  is  onlv  apparent.  Whenever  one  of  the  two  grades  used  was  much  larger  than 
the  other,  a  random  selection  was  made  from  it,  in  order  that  all  the  combined  grade  medians  might  be  based  on 
approximately  the  same  number  of  cases.  This  method  of  random  selections  sometimes  gave  averages  and  medians 
which  do  not  seem  to  agree  with  the  central  tendencies  of  the  separate  grades.  The  method  cannot,  however,  be 
considered  defective  on  this  account,  for  there  are  many  inconsistencies  quite  as  great  where  no  selection  was  used, 
and  furthermore  the  variations  run  so  high  that  a  difference  of  several  points  in  the  central  tendency  is  quite  in- 
significant. These  seeming  inconsistencies  occur  in  nearly  all  of  the  tables. 


448 


APPENDIX 


Grade 


TABLE  67.  SPEED  OF  MULTIPLICATION 


6 


8 


KlRKSVILLE                      0 

1 

3 

3 

6 

- 

WARRENSBURG          0 

3 

6 

5 

7 

- 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU      0 

3 

5 

8 

7 

- 

SPRINGFIELD             0 

3 

6 

8 

6 

- 

MARYVILLE               3 

5 

6 

7 

8 

- 

COLUMBIA                 0 

1 

1 

3 

4 

- 

All  Schools              0 

2 

5 

5 

6 

9 

Courtis  Standards 

6 

8 

9 

10 

12 

Small  Cities 

6 

8 

9 

10 

11 

6  and  7  combined 


Score 

4 


Rank 
5.5 
3.5 
1.5 
3.5 
1.5 
5.5 


Final 
Rank 

5 

3.5 

2 

3.5 

1 

6 


Grade 


TABLE  68.  ACCURACY  OF  MULTIPLICATION 
45678 


6  and  7  combined 
Score  Rank 


Final 
Rank 


KlRKSVILLE                    0 

0 

25 

0 

33 

- 

WARRENSBURG         0 

0 

50 

50 

60 

- 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU      0 

0 

67 

63 

75 

- 

SPRINGFIELD            0 

0 

80 

67 

57 

- 

MARYVILLE              0 

26 

75 

50 

50 

- 

COLUMBIA                 0 

0 

0 

0 

57 

- 

All  Schools              0 

0 

50 

50 

50 

70 

Courtis  Standards 

67 

75 

78 

80 

81 

Small  Cities 

68 

76 

79 

80 

81 

20 
50 
67 
60 
50 
S3 

60 


3.5 

1 

2 

3.5 

6 


3.5 

1 

2 

3.5 

6 


Grade       3 


TABLE  69.  SPEED  OF  DIVISION 
5678 


KlRKSVILLE 

0 

1 

2 

3 

4 

- 

WAKRENSBURG 

0 

2 

5 

4 

6 

- 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

0 

1 

4 

5 

5 

- 

SPRINGFIELD 

0 

2 

3 

6 

5 

- 

MARYVILLE 

0 

3 

4 

5 

6 

_ 

COLUMBIA 

0 

0 

1 

2 

5 

- 

All  Schools 

0 

1 

4 

4 

5 

8 

Courtis  Standards 

5 

6 

8 

10 

11 

Small  Cities 

5 

6 

8 

10 

10 

6  and  7  combined 


Score 
3 
5 
5 
6 
6 
3 


Rank 
5.5 
3.5 
8.5 
1.5 
1.5 
5.5 


Final 
Rank 

6 

8 

4 

2 

1 

5 


Grade       3 


TABLE  70.  ACCURACY  OF  DIVISION 
6678 


6  and  7  combined 
Score  Rank 


Mnal 
Rank 


KlRKSVILLE                    0 

0 

0 

33 

60 

- 

WARRENSBURG         0 

0 

60 

67 

80 

- 

CAPE  GIRAKDEAU      0 

0 

33 

75 

80 

_ 

SPRINGFIELD            0 

0 

67 

71 

75 

- 

MARYVILLE              0 

60 

67 

60 

60 

- 

COLUMBIA                 0 

0 

0 

50 

60 

- 

All  Schools              0 

0 

50 

67 

71 

75 

Courtis  Standards 

57 

77 

87 

90 

91 

Small  Cities 

59 

77 

87 

91 

93 

71 
60 
60 

67 


2 
1 
3 

4.5 
4.5 


2 
1 
3 

.4 
5 


1  See  page  447,  note  1. 


RESULTS  OF  STANDARD  TESTS  449 

TABLE  71.  COMPARISON  OF  BANKS  IN  COURTIS  TESTS1 

Pour  Operations 
School  Addition  Subtraction  Multiplication  Division  Combined 

S2A3SA  S             A  SA  SA 

KIRKSVILLE             5.5            6  66  56  66  66 

WARRENSBURG      33  42  35           3.5  32  43 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU  11  2.5            4  21  41  21 

SPRINGFIELD          5.5            2  25            3  3.5           2  23  32 

MARYVILLE            25  15  13-5  14  14 

COLUMBIA               44  51  65  55  *55 

TABLE  73.  MEDIAN  SCORES  IN  STONE  REASONING  TEST3 

Grade  3  4  56  786  and  7  combined  Final 

Score  Rank  Bank 

KIRKSVILLE  0.0  1.0  1.0                4.0  52                 -                 5.0                4.5                5.5 

WARRENSBURG  0.0  1.0  2.0                3.6  5.6                 -                 4.4                6                  5.5 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU  1.0  2  0  3.0                5.0  7.1                                   6.6                1                  1 

SPRINGFIELD  1.0  2.0  3.6                4.6  6.8                                   5.8                2                  2 

MARYVILLE  00  0.5  31                4.0  6.7                                    5.4                3                  3 

COLUMBIA  1.0  2.5  4.6                 4.6  5.0                   -                  5.0                 4.5                4 

All  Schools  1.0                1.6                3.0  4.0  6.4                7.0                5.2 

Starch  Standards*  4.5                6.2                7.8  9.4  11.0  12.6 

Three  Cities5  3.1  5.0  7.3                8.9 

Boston  4.4  <   56                  7.6 

£.  Spelling  Tests 

For  these  tests  thirty  words  were  selected  for  each  grade.  Twenty  of  these  were  taken 
from  the  Ayres  Spelling  Scale,  and  the  other  ten  from  the  Boston  Minimum  Lists.6 

TABLE  73.  SPELLING  OF  WORDS  FROM  THE  AYRES  LIST 

Grade         2  34  56  786  and  7  combined        Final 

Score        Hank          Hank 

KIRKSVILLE                   67  66  53  73  64  58  -  61  6  6 

WARRENSBURG            82  65  58  76  79  71  -  74  4  4 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU         76  84  82  85  80  83  -  80  1.6  2 

SPRINGFIELD                95  85  72  89  81  79  -  80  1.5  1 

MARYVILLE                   97  93  73  80  76  76  75 T  3  3 

COLUMBIA              Not  given  €0  57  66  67  76  -  72  5  5 

All  Schools  81  74  64  78  74  73  77  76 7 

Ayres  Standard8       77  77  76  76  76  76  76 

1  For  graphic  comparisons  of  the  median  scores  in  Missouri  training  schools  with  Courtis  standards,  see  Table  84. 

2  8= Speed.  A= Accuracy. 

8  In  this  test  the  pupils  are  given  a  folder  which  contains  twelve  problems  of  graded  difficulty.  Exactly  fifteen  min- 
utes are  allowed  the  pupils  in  which  to  work  as  many  problems  as  they  can.  A  certain  problem  value,  as  determined 
by  the  author  of  the  tests,  is  credited  for  each  correct  answer.  The  pupil's  score  in  the  test  is  obtained  by  adding 
all  the  credits  which  he  receives. 
*  Based  on  results  from  2515  pupils  in  18  schools. 

5  The  average  of  the  medians  secured  at  Butte,  Montana ;  Laporte,  Indiana;  and  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah, 
6The  words  were  not  given  by  the  examiners,  butwere  dictated  by  the  regular  gradeor  practice  teacher.  This  was 
deemed  advisable  because  of  the  fact  that  the  pupils  were  more  familiar  with  the  voice  and  enunciation  ot  tne 
teacher  In  correcting  the  papers  credit  was  given  for  accepted  forms  of  simplified  spelling,  and  for  wrong  words, 
evidently  misunderstood,  which  were  correctly  spelled.  Tt  should  be  noted  In  this  test  that  progress  thru  the 
grades  is  not  made  by  getting  a  higher  score  on  the  same  words,  but  by  maintaining  the  same  score  (79)  on  lists 
of  words  of  increasing  difficulty.  The  comparisons  are  made  In  terms  of  averages  instead  of  medians  because  tne 
standards  are  so  stated. 
7  See  page  447,  note  1.          8  Average  of  84  cities. 


450 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  74.  SPELLING  OF  WORDS  FROM  THE  BOSTON  LIST1 


Grade 

KlRKSVILLE 

WARRENSBURG 
CAPE  GIRARDEAU 
SPRINGFIELD 

MARYVILLE 
COLUMBIA 


36 


57 
73 


All  Schools 
Brooklme,  Mass.3 


57 


33 

47 


61 


Not  given       38 


50 


29 
31 

66 

71 
38 
28 

42 
61 


5 


65 
57 
71 
57 
35 

68 
69 


39 
60 
55 
74 
59 
53 

55 

84 


33 
43 
62 
50 
37 
36 

45 


57 

80 


6  and  7  combined 
Score       Rank 

Final 
Rank 

33 

6 

6 

52 

3 

3 

63  » 

1 

2 

62 

2 

1 

42 

5 

4 

44 

4 

5 

8.  Penmanship  Tests 

The  tests  in  penmanship  were  arranged  by  Professor  Henry  W.  Holmes  of  Harvard 
University,,  and  were  used  with  his  permission.  Records  for  comparison  with  the  pres- 
ent results  were  made  available  thru  his  courtesy. 

The  ranking  of  the  different  schools  is  practically  the  same  in  both  tests  given.  For 
efficiency  in  writing  a  proper  balance  must  evidently  be  maintained  between  speed 
and  quality;  that  is,  neither  speed  nor  quality  of  writing  can  be  bettered  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  other.  By  taking  both  factors  into  consideration,  the  Warrensburg  school 
stands  first  in  the  ranking.  It  has  the  best  writing  from  the  standpoint  of  quality 
combined  with  fair  speed.  Cape  Girardeau  and  Columbia  come  next,  and  Springfield, 
Maryville,  and  Kirksville  follow  in  the  order  named. 


TABLE  75.  SPEED  OF  HANDWRITING* 


Grade       2 


KIRKSVILLE 

SI 

WARRENSBURG 

45 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

38 

SPRINGFIELD 

44 

MARYVILLE 

39 

COLUMBIA 

35 

All  Schools 

40 

St.  Louis5 

37 

Newton,  Mass. 

39 

Brooklme,  Mass. 

(1236  pupils) 

44 
66 
69 
64 
32 

49 

57 
55 


59 
60 

75 
75 
51 
51 

62 
64 
59 


79 

100 

97 

55 

87 

80 
66 
73 
76 


83 

82 
112 
110 
83 
89 

92 

69 
85 
87 


71 
92 
111 


93 

92 

75 
94 
90 


102 
73 

102 


0  and  7  combined 
Score       Rank 

Final 
Rank 

79 

6 

6 

87 

4 

8.5 

111 

1 

1 

104 

2 

2 

83 

5 

5 

89 

3 

3.5 

93  a 

1  The  relative  standings  of  the  schools  in  the  spelling  of  words  from  the  Boston  list  is  shown  in  the  above  table. 
The  reason  for  the  lower  scores  on  the  Boston  list  is  that  the  words  are  much  more  difficult  than  those  of  the  Ayres 
list. 

2  See  page  447,  note  1. 

z  Boston  standards  for  these  words  range  from  86  per  cent  to  95  per  cent,  but  only  after  the  words  have  been  studied 
for  one  or  two  lessons.  The  conditions  in  Brookline,  Mass.,  were  the  same  as  in  Missouri. 

*The  Holmes  Test  for  the  Speed  of  Writing  is  given  as  follows:  A  short  sentence  is  written  on  the  board  by  the 
examiner  and  copied  by  the  children  at  the  top  of  their  papers.  After  the  directions  for  the  test  have  been  given, 
the  sentence  is  read  in  concert  by  the  class  several  times,  so  that  it  is  fairly  well  learned  before  the  test  begins,  and 
little  or  no  time  is  lost  by  the  pupils  because  of  forgotten  copy.  After  two  short  practice  periods  of  15  seconds  each, 
which  are  given  for  the  purpose  of  "warming  up,"  the  sentence  is  written  repeatedly  for  a  one  minute  and  a  four 
minute  period.  The  number  of  letters  written  per  minute  in  each  period  is  found,  and  the  average  of  these  is  taken 
as  the  pupils'  speed  of  writing. 

The  sentence  is:  **  Jolly  kings  bring  gifts  while  happy  maids  dance."  It  will  be  noticed  that  this  sentence  con- 
tains most  of  the  letters  and  the  common  letter  combinations. 
6  The  Holmes  material  was  not  used  in  this  test. 


RESULTS  OF  STANDARD  TESTS 


451 


Grade 


TABLE  76.  QUALITY  OF  HANDWRITING1 


678 


KlRKSVILLE 

35 

32 

39 

36 

38 

35 

WARRENSBURG 

35 

39 

43 

48 

47 

51 

CAPE  GIRARDEAO 

33 

36 

43 

39 

42 

47 

SPRINGFIELD 

34 

29 

33 

36 

43 

40 

MARYVILLE 

32 

41 

38 

43 

45 

37 

COLUMBIA 

50 

42 

46 

43 

44 

49 

All  Schools 

35 

36 

39 

41 

42 

45 

Kansas  City2 

30 

36 

42 

50 

54 

56 

St.  Louis2 

30 

32 

37 

49 

57 

63 

Newton,  Mass. 

54 

50 

45 

48 

51 

50 

Starch  Standards  2 

27 

33 

37 

43 

47 

53 

South  Bend  Standards2 

40 

40 

50 

50 

60 

47 

74 
53 
67 
60 


6  and  7  combined  Final 

Score        Rank  Bank 

6  6 
1 


37 
51 

42 
41 
44 

47 


1 
3 

4.5 
4.5 
2 


4.  Reading  Tests 

The  reading  tests  were  four  in  number:  the  Kansas  Silent  Reading  Test  and  Pro- 
fessor Holmes's  three  tests  (a)  for  speed  in  silent  reading,  (b)  in  reproducing  a  pas- 
sage read,  and  (c)  in  answering  questions  on  a  passage  read. 


TABLE  77.  KANSAS  SILENT  READING  TESTS8 


Grade. 


KlRKSVILLfi 

5.2 

WARRENSBURG 

30.3 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

18.1 

SPRINGFIELD 

10.5 

MARYVILLE 

7.2 

COLUMBIA 

6.8 

All  Schools 

8,5 

Scores  in  19  Cities4 

6.0 

Western  States 

6.1 

9.8 
10.3 
16.3 
13.4 

8,5 
12.4 

124 
9.9 
10.6 


12.8 
125 
23.8 
183 
14.6 
16.3 

16.3 
13.7 

144 


16.8 
12.9 
106 
13.5 
11.7 
15.4 

13.2 
13.4 
15.0 


19.3 
20.1 
300 
17.3 
15.8 
16.3 

20.0 
16.5 
18.0 


6  and  7  combined 
Score  Bank 
18.4 
16.7 
19.7 
1S.9 
12.8 


18.4 
18.8 
20.6 


15.4 

16.2 


Final 
Rank 

2 

3 
1 
5 


1The  Holmes  Test  for  the  Quality  of  Writing  prorides  for  the  rating  on  the  Ayres  Scale  of  three  samples  of  the 
pupils'  penmanship.  The  average  of  these  three  ratings  is  taken  as  the  final  score. 

The  first  of  the  three  samples  rated  was  the  paper  written  in  the  four  minute  speed  test;  the  second,  a  short  story 
written  by  the  pupils  from  dictation,  and  the  third  the  "  reproduction  "  paper  from  the  reading  test.  In  the  latter 
case  the  pupils  did  not  know  that  the  paper  was  to  be  graded  for  penmanship.  Each  of  the  papers  was  rated  inde- 
pendently by  two  of  the  examiners,  and  the  two  ratings  were  averaged  for  the  score  of  the  paper. 

2  The  test  given  in  this  case  was  not  the  Holmes  test,  but  the  writing  was  rated  on  the  Ayres  Scale. 

3  The  purpose  of  this  test  is  to  determine  "the  ability  of  pupils  to  get  meaning  from  the  printed  page."  It  consists 
of  a  series  of  "exercises,"  in  the  form  of  short  paragraphs,  in  which  the  child  is  given  certain  directions  to  follow 
or  in  which  he  is  required  to  solve  a  simple  problem.  Each  exercise  is  so  arranged  that  the  response  of  the  child  is 
either  right  or  wrong.  A  folder  containing  a  set  of  these  exercises  is  given  to  each  child  in  the  class,  and  all  begin 
to  work  at  a  signal  from  the  examiner.  The  score  is  determined  by  the  number  of  exercises  which  are  completed  in 
five  minutes,  the  weighting  of  each  exercise  in  the  final  score  having  been  calculated  by  the  author  of  the  tests. 
The  median  scores  obtained  are  recorded  in  the  table.  The  slight  decrease  in  the  scores  of  the  sixth  grade  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  two  sets  of  exercises  are  used,  one  set  for  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth,  and  another  for  the  sixth,  seventh, 
and  eighth  grades. 

*  For  7729  pupils. 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  78.  SPEED  OF  SILENT  READING1 


Grade 


KIRKS  VILLE 

WARRENSBURG 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

SPRINGFIELD 

MARYVILLE 

COLUMBIA 

All  Schools 
Brookhne,  Mass, 
(1251  pupils) 


2 

3 

-  4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

6  arid  7  combined 
Score   Rank 

Final 
Bank 

126 

207 

180 

321 

264 

276 

- 

264 

5 

5 

141 

180 

147 

299 

249 

309 

- 

276 

4 

4 

147 

384 

237 

222 

234 

463 

- 

321 

2 

2 

138 

237 

188 

364 

276 

237 

- 

249 

6 

6 

180 

180 

405 

363 

363 

291 

- 

309 

3 

3 

186 

147 

219 

309 

327 

324 

- 

324 

I 

1 

147 

198 

198 

809 

276 

318 

363 

» 

249 

283 

309 

294 

TABLE  79.  REPRODUCTION  OF  PASSAGE  READ 


Grade 


KlRKSVILLE 

11 

43 

WARRENSBURG 

14 

29 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

14 

66 

SPRINGFIELD 

26 

49 

MARYVILLE 

41 

29 

COLUMBIA 

29 

37 

All  Schools 

20 

37 

Brooklifle,  Mass. 

(1224  pupils) 

4 

40 
43 
60 

54 
43 
29 


51 
51 
63 

49 
51 

57 

51 
57 


51 
63 

57 
57 
49 

54 

57 


63 

57 
69 
54 
57 
57 

60 

57 


60 
60 


6  and  7  combined 
Score       Rank 

Final 
Rank 

63 

2 

ii 

54 

5 

5 

69 

1 

1 

57 

3.5 

8.5 

57 

8.5 

3.5 

49 

6 

6 

57 


TABLE  80.  ANSWERS  TO  QUESTIONS  ON  PASSAGE  READ 


Grade 


8 


6  and  7  combined 
/Score      Sank 


KlRKSVILLE 

19 

39 

49 

64 

69 

68 

- 

WARRENSBURG 

19 

44 

44 

72 

68 

68 

- 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

39 

71 

77 

73 

77 

85 

- 

SPRINGFIELD 

38 

59 

68 

77 

78 

77 

- 

MARYVILLE 

44 

49 

54 

69 

72 

69 

- 

COLUMBIA 

53 

53 

44 

68 

70 

73 

- 

All  Schools 

37 

50 

52 

69 

72 

72 

75 

Brookline,  Mass. 

62 

64 

68 

73 

(1252  pupils) 

69 

68 
82 

77 
72 
70 

73  3 


Final 
JKank 

5.6 

5.5 

1 

2 

3.5 

8.5 


5.  Composition  Test 

For  this  test  the  pupils  of  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades  were  asked  to  write  a 
composition  on  any  one  of  three  assigned  subjects.  The  topics  given  were  such  that 
the  pupil  had  a  fairly  wide  range  of  choice,  while  the  product  was  kept  fairly  uniform. 
The  compositions  were  graded  by  the  Harvard-Newton  Composition  Scale. 


1  For  this  and  the  two  following  tests  the  pupils  are  given  slips  of  paper  on  which  is  printed  a  simple  story,  and  a 
period  of  twenty  seconds  is  allowed  for  reading.  When  the  signal  to  stop  is  given,  each  child  makes  a  mark  under 
the  word  which  he  is  reading,  and  then  finishes  the  leading  of  the  story.  When  all  are  done,  the  class  is  asked  to 
reproduce  the  story  in  writing.  Finally,  a  set  of  questions  on  the  mam  points  of  the  story  is  given,  and  the  pupils 
are  asked  to  write  the  answers.  The  speed  of  silent  reading  is  scored  in  the  number  of  words  read  per  minute ;  the 
reproduction  is  scored  according  to  the  number  of  ideas  which  are  correctly  reproduced  by  the  pupil,  and  the  an- 
swers to  the  questions  according  to  definite  values  assigned  them.  The  grade  scores  are  the  averages  of  the  indi- 
vidual scores.  Before  giving  this  test  a  similar  test  was  first  practised  to  familiarize  the  children  with  the  mechanics 
of  the  operation. 

2  See  page  447,  note  1. 


RESULTS  OF  STANDARD  TESTS 


453 


School 

KIRKSVILLE 
WARRENSBUE.G 

CAP%  GlRAUDEAU 

SPRINGFIELD 

MARYVILLE 
COLUMBIA 

All  Schools 
Blooming-ton,  Ind.2 
(268  pupils) 


TABLE  81.  COMPOSITIONS 

Grade  7  Grade  8 

64  72 


57 
74 
75 
67 
70 

67 
61 


65 
75 

75 


70 
67 


Final  Bank 
45 
6 
1 
2 

4.5 
3 


6.  Final  Ranking  of  the  Schools 

By  way  of  summarizing  the  inter-school  comparisons,  a  final  ranking  of  the  schools 
on  the  basis  of  the  results  in  all  the  tests  has  been  made.  The  tables  show  that  Cape 
Girardeau  easily  ranks  first.  This  school  stands  either  first  or  second  in  all  but  three 
of  the  tests.  Springfield  stands  second,  while  Maryville  and  Warrensburg  are  about 
tied  for  third  place,  with  the  advantage  slightly  in  favor  of  the  former.  Columbia 
comes  fifth,  and  Kirksville  last — considerably  below  the  other  schools. 

The  relative  standing  of  the  schools  is  not,  however,  the  most  significant  thing 
that  the  results  of  the  tests  show.  Of  much  greater  importance  is  the  fact  of  the  wide 
variation  between  these  schools.  Altho  in  practically  every  test  there  are  two  or 
more  schools  in  which  the  attainments  are  very  close,  yet  in  every  test  the  difference 
between  the  highest  and  the  lowest  score  is  considerable.  It  does  not  seem  that  such 
variations  should  exist  between  schools  which  are  engaged  in  similar  work.  Since  it  is 
unlikely  that  the  selection  of  pupils  or  their  general  intelligence  is  sufficiently  differ- 
ent in  the  various  schools  to  produce  such  results,  the  explanation  must  be  looked  for 
in  differences  in  the  quality  and  amount  of  school  training. 

TABLE  82.  SUMMARY  OF  RANKS  GIVEN  EACH  SCHOOL 


Arithmetic  Tests 

Spelling 

Penman- 
ship 

Reading  and 
Composition 

5s> 

a 

g, 

•e 

§ 

1 

1 

*> 

*8 

1 

1 

o 

1 

i 

US 

1 

§, 

8 

I 

| 

.§ 

o 

1 

o 

£ 

CO 

CO 

fl 

'42 

vy 

i 

i 

•2 

"S» 

•3 

1 

i 

"I 

3 

5 

1 

eg 

£ 

& 

§ 

i 

1 

I 

| 

1 

1 

•fa 

1 

1 

S 

1 

1 

ts 

•1* 

1 

1 

o 

j. 

I 

1 

O 

Wl 

"3 

^ 

13 

1 

1 

"§ 

1 

.1 

1 

1 

^ 

1 

I 

I 

1 

I 

I 

6 

1 

1 

KTRKSVXLLE 

5.5 

6 

6 

6 

5 

6 

6 

6 

5.5 

6 

6 

6 

6 

2 

5 

2 

5.5 

45 

95 

6 

WARRENSBURG 

3 

3 

4 

2 

3.5 

3.5 

3 

2 

5.5 

4 

3 

3.5 

1 

3 

4 

5 

5.5 

6 

64.5 

4 

CAPE  GIRARDEAU 

1 

1 

2.5 

4 

2 

1 

4 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

3 

1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

31.5 

1 

SPRINGFIELD 

55 

2 

2.5 

3 

3.5 

2 

2 

3 

2 

1 

1 

2 

4.5 

5 

6 

3.5 

2 

2 

52.5 

2 

MARYVILLE 

2 

5 

1 

5 

1 

3.5 

1 

4 

3 

3 

4 

6 

4.5 

6 

3 

3.6 

3.5 

4.5 

62.5 

3 

COLUMBIA 

4 

4 

5 

I 

6 

5 

5 

5 

4 

5 

5 

3.5 

2 

4 

1 

6 

3.5 

3 

72 

5 

xThe  comparisons  in  this  test  are  based  on  the  scores  of  the  seventh  grades  alone  because  there  Is  no  eighth  grade 

in  Columbia,  and  the  scores  for  the  eighth  grades  at  Kirksville  and  Maryville  are  based  on  so  few  cases  as  to  be 

unreliable. 

2  These  medians  were  found  by  combining  the  scores  of  the  A  and  B  divisions  of  the  grades  in  Bloomington.  See  Jte- 

jport  of  Second  Indiana  Conference  on  Educational  Measurements,  page  117  if. 


454  APPENDIX 

7.  Progress  in  the  Schools 

The  efficiency  of  a  school  may  be  judged,  in  part,  at  least?  by  the  advance  in  the 
various  subjects  which  the  pupils  of  the  school  make  from  grade  to  grade.  This  was 
one  of  the  methods  used  above  to  estimate  the  rank  of  a  school.  It  should  always  be 
kept  In  mind9  however,  that  the  progress  shown  below  is  not  that  of  the  same  pu- 
pils, but  that  of  the  school  as  a  whole.  The  records  simply  tell  how  much  superior 
the  standing  of  the  pupils  in  one  grade  is  to  that  of  the  pupils  in  some  preceding 
grade  in  the  same  school,  and  this  line  of  progress  in  any  one  school  may  be  easily 
disturbed  if  any  grade  be  above  or  below  its  normal  standard.  In  the  schools  as  a 
group  such  irregularities  are  likely  to  be  smoothed  out.  This  uniformity  in  the  pro- 
gress from  grade  to  grade  is  an  important  element  in  the  comparison.  There  may 
be  a  regular  advance  in  each  grade,  or  all  the  gains  may  be  made  in  one  or  two  grades 
with  little  or  no  gain  in  the  other  grades.  Grading  of  pupils  and  the  outlining  of 
courses  of  study  is  done,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  belief  that  regular  and  uniform 
progress  is  the  rule.  It  was  not  considered  necessary  to  make  diagrams  for  all  the  tests; 
the  seven  given  in  Table  83  indicate  clearly  the  general  situation. 

The  progress  lines  for  all  the  schools  taken  together  are  shown  at  the  right  of  the 
diagram.  They  indicate,  for  the  most  part,  a  steady  and  gradual  gain  in  the  average 
attainments  of  the  pupils  from  the  second  to  the  eighth  grade.  In  many  cases  the 
lines  do  not  rise  as  rapidly  after  the  sixth  grade  as  they  do  before  this  grade.  This 
is  what  we  should  expect,  because  intensive  drill  in  the  formal  subjects  is  about  fin- 
ished by  the  end  of  the  sixth  grade.  There  is  one  noticeable  exception  to  the  general 
regularity  of  improvement.  In  several  of  the  tests  the  scores  of  the  fifth  grade  are  as 
high  or  higher  than  the  scores  of  the  sixth  grade.  This  is  especially  noticeable  in  the 
speed  of  silent  reading,  and  in  the  speed  of  addition.  There  is  a  slight  improvement 
in  the  accuracy  of  addition. 

The  progress  lines  in  the  several  schools  again  bring  out  the  fact  that  there  are 
many  inter-school  differences,  as  well  as  inequalities  in  the  same  school  and  grade  in 
the  standing  of  the  pupils  in  the  various  subjects  of  study.  Altho  there  are  many  cases 
of  regular  and  continued  progress  thru  the  grades,  the  ups  and  downs  in  the  records 
show  altogether  too  frequently  that  grade  standards  are  lacking.  Some  of  the  irregu- 
larities are  doubtless  to  be  explained  by  the  limitation  already  mentioned,  namely,  that 
the  progress  has  not  been  measured  by  the  attainments  of  the  same  groups  of  pupils  in 
successive  years ;  but  the  fact  still  remains  that,  in  many  instances,  grade  position  gives 
little  or  no  indication  of  the  character  of  work  or  the  attainments  of  the  pupils. 

8.  Correlations 

A  few  of  the  possible  correlations  among  the  abilities  measured  in  the  tests  have 
been  worked  out,  and  are  given  in  Table  85 :l 


1  Most  of  these  correlations  were  calculated  by  the  Spearman  "  foot-rule  "  formula  and  were  then  translated  into 
the  equivalent  coefficients  of  correlation  of  the  Pearson  method.  (See  Table  37,  pagre  169,  of  Thorndike's  Mental  and 
Social  Measurements.)  Since  there  is  some  question  concerning1  the  reliability  of  this  method  of  calculation,  a  num- 
ber of  the  correlations  were  also  obtained  by  the  usual  Pearson  formula  as  a  check  on  the  results.  The  results  by  the 
two  methods  were  in  sufficient  agreement  to  justify  the  use  of  the  shorter  method  alone  in  the  remaining  correla- 
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INDEX 


INDEX 


.ACADEMIC  courses  In  normal  schools,  228  if.; 
how  professionalized,  148  ff.,  227,  231. 

Academic  subjects,  Teachers  of,  in  normal 
schools,  283 ;  salaries  of,  284,  424. 

Academies  :  in  Missouri,  charter  of  Ste.  Gene- 
vieve,  19;  preparation  of  teachers  in 
(1831),  30;  report  on  (1840),  30;  versus  nor- 
mal schools  for  preparation  of  teachers 
(1831-70),  30  ff. 

Administration,  Normal  school :  effects  of  pro- 
posed reorganization,  57  f.;  of  curricula, 
258  ff.;  presidents'  powers  and  duties  in, 
273;  of  teaching  staff,  276  fF.;  of  students, 
292  ff.;  in  summer  session,  290  ff.;  influence 
of,  on  students,  353  f.,  397 ;  tone  of ,  354  ; 
conclusions  regarding,  396. 

Administration,  State  educational :  development 
of  state  unit,  63;  principle  of  centralization 
in,  63;  purposes  of,  63;  reorganization  of, 
63  ff,  67  ff.;  conditions  of  successful,  64; 
should  replace  legislative  detail,  64 ;  special 
concern  with  teachers,  64;  state  superin- 
tendent, 65;  need  of  unified  control,  65, 
349;  experiments  in  Massachusetts,  Wis- 
consin, Illinois,  Iowa,  Kansas,  Montana, 
65  f . ;  teacher  supply  the  chief  problem  of, 
65 ;  control  by  single  board,  67 ;  relation  of 
executives,  68;  certification  of  teachers, 
347  f. ;  conclusions  regarding,  388  ff. 

Administration,  Training-  for,  153,  159. 

Administrative  policies  of  proposed  Board  of 
Education,  390. 

Admission  to  normal  schools :  standards  of, 
128  ff.;  effects  of  unregulated  attendance, 
302  ff. ;  early  requirements  for,  307 ;  pledge 
to  teach,  307;  age  limits,  307;  examination 
for,  308;  "proving  up,"  308;  uniform  ad- 
ministration needed,  311  f.;  indispensable 
conditions,  312  f.;  state  department  the 
appropriate  agent  for,  312;  original  creden- 
tials necessary,  313;  conclusions  regarding, 
391,396. 

Adviser,  Educational,  proposed  for  normal 
schools,  255  f. 

Advisers,  Student,  at  Kirksville,  314 ;  at  Cape 
Girardeau,  314,  note  3. 

Age :  of  students  in  normal  schools,  117,  Table 
26,  p.  429 ;  of  teachers  in  normal  schools, 
99,  Table  5,  p.  419. 

Agreement:  of  normal  schools  (1904)  :  curricu- 
lum provisions  of,  87  f.,  309;  attitude  of 
Kirksville  toward,  309,  312. 
of  normal   schools  (1914):  curriculum  provi- 
sions of,  162. 

of  normal  school  Conference  (1916) :  nature 
and  promise  of,  61  f.,  387 ;  curriculum  provi- 
sions of,  164  f.,  173;  qualifications  of  teach- 
ers, 104  f. 


Agriculture:  courses  in,  240  if.,  Tables  1,  2, 
pp.  409,  411 ;  teachers  of,  282  f. 

Albany,  State  normal  school  established  at,  31. 

Ancient  languages,  232 :  amount  and  variety  of, 
232  if.;  enthusiasm  of  teachers  for,  233; 
courses  in,  Tables  1,  2,  pp.  4O6,  411. 

Appointment :  of  normal  school  teachers,  280  ; 
of  normal  school  graduates,  349:  present 
procedure  in,  350 ;  demand  yet  un special- 
ized, 350;  candidates  too  little  studied,  351  f. ; 
normal  schools  responsible  for  appoint- 
ments, 351 ;  and  for  teachers  in  service,  352 ; 
conclusions  on,  396. 

Apprentice  system,  of  practice  teaching  :  at  St. 
Louis,  202  ff.;  need  for,  in  state  at  large, 
349;  possible  thru  unified  control,  349. 

Arithmetic:  collegiate  course  in,  150;  in  sec- 
ondary curricula,  164;  tests  of  training 
schools  in,  446  ff. 

Art  and  science  of  teaching  in  early  normal 
schools,  29,  32  f. 

Attendance:  at  normal  schools:  local  nature  of, 
118  f.;  at  Harris  Teachers  College,  125;  by 
men,  motives  and  effects  of,  292 ;  of  second- 
ary students,  295  f.;  problem  of,  301  ff.; 
effects  of  present  procedure,  302  f. ;  conti- 
nuity possible  and  necessary,  304  f. ;  favor- 
able legislation  needed,  305;  unified  ad- 
ministration needed,  305;  normal  schools 
partly  responsible,  306;  desire  of  students 
for  continuity,  306;  regulation  of  summer 
session,  306;  conclusions  concerning,  396; 
in  students'  families,  118,  Table  34,  p.  432; 
at  schools  of  Missouri,  average  number  of 
days,  20. 

Ava,  High  school  at,  299. 

Ay  res  spelling  scale,  449. 

BABCOCK,  Kendrick  C.,  101. 

Bache,  Alexander  D. ,  on  preparation  of  teach- 
ers (1839),  26. 

Bachelor  of  Arts,  Degree  of,  in  Missouri  normal 
schools,  37,  344. 

Bachelor  of  Science  in  Education,  Degree  of, 
344. 

Bachelor  degrees  (four-year)  from  Missouri 
normal  schools,  Table  48,  p.  437. 

Bagley,  William  C.,  5,  404. 

Baldwin,  Joseph :  life  and  character,  35 ;  estab- 
lishes normal  school  at  Kirksville,  34  ;  urges 
unified  policy  for  normal  schools,  44  ;  work 
in  state  at  large,  84;  plan  of  degrees  at 
Kirksville,  344. 

Ballard,  Edward,  on  preparation  of  teachers 
(1862),  p.  81. 

Baptist  colleges  in  Missouri,  19. 

Barnard,  Henry,  in  Connecticut,  29  ;  in  Wiscon- 
sin, 31. 


460 


INDEX 


Beckedorff,  L,,  aids  teacher-training  in  Ger- 
many (1827),  27. 

Bell-Lancaster  schools,  187, 

Biology :  lacking  in  Missouri  normal  schools, 
£39  ;  importance  of,  339;  courses  in  (1917- 
18),  Tables  1,  2,  pp.  408,  4.11. 

Board  of  Curators  :  relations  with  professional 
board  of  executives,  57;  possible  use  as 
board  of  education,  388,  note  1 ;  transfer 
of  powers  to  proposed  board  of  education, 
390. 

Board  of  Education,  State  :  Missouri  ex-officAo, 
42;  reorganization  of,  in  Missouri,  03  ff., 
388  ff.;  proposed  composition  and  duties, 
388  1;  proposed  administrative  policies, 
390  f.;  in  Massachusetts,  65;  in  Wisconsin, 
65;  in  Illinois,  65;  in  Iowa,  66;  in  Kansas, 
66 ;  in  Montana,  66 1;  function  of,  69. 

Boards  of  Regents :  single  board  at  first,  42 ; 
objections  to  single  board,  42 ;  single  board 
opposed  by  teachers,  43 ;  separate  boards 
established,  43  ;  non-partisan  provisions, 
43 ;  contemporary  criticism  of  separate 
boards,  43;  present  operation  of,  44  ff.; 
function  of,  45  f.;  rapid  changes  in  member- 
ship, 45  ;  politics  in,  47  ;  weakness  both  in 
material  and  educational  problems,  48  f.; 
diversity  of  procedure  under,  49  ;  lack  of 
unity  in  state  policies,  49;  summary  of  de- 
fects, 53  f.;  advantage  of,  54;  proposals  to 
replace  with  unified  control,  54  ff. ,  65, 388  1 ; 
effects  of  proposed  reorganization,  57  ff.; 
voluntary  cooperation  of  normal  schools 
under,  61  f . ;  effect  of  local  control  on  nor- 
mal school,  75;  appointment  of  teachers  by, 
280;  powers  transferred  to  proposed  board 
of  education,  390. 
Bonus  credit:  at  Cape  Girardeau,  319  f.;  at  the 

University  of  Missouri,  360, 
Botany,  Courses  in,  239,  Table  1,  p.  408. 
Brooks,  Charles :  efforts  for  preparation  of  teach- 
ers (1834-39),  pp.  £5,  28;  on  origin  of  nor- 
mal schools,  26. 
Boston  minimum  spelling  lists,  449  f. 

CADET  system  of  practice  teaching,  ^Appren- 
tice system. 

California,  proportion  of  secondary  school  at- 
tendance, 20. 

Carnegie  Foundation ;  bulletins  of,  xvi ;  purpose 
of,  in  present  study,  xvi;  provisional  curri- 
cula published  by,  194, 

Carter,  James  G.:  on  preparation  of  teachers 
(1824-39),  24;  petitions  legislature  of 
Massachusetts  for  funds,  24;  opens  semi- 
nary at  Lancaster  (1897),  24 ;  elected  to  le- 
gislature (1835),  28 ;  secures  board  of  educa- 
tion for  Massachusetts  (1837),  28;  advocates 
normal  schools,  28. 

Calendar  of  Missouri  normal  schools,  Develop- 
ment of,  301, 

Cape  Girardeau,  Normal  school  at:  establish- 
ment of,  34 f.;  location  of,  36;  growth  in 


numbers,  37 ;  cost  of  first  building,  38 ;  se- 
cures separate  board,  42 ;  stability  of  board, 
45;  board  of  regents  at,  47  ;  housing  of,  49; 
seeks  to  become  a  liberal  arts  college,  72, 
79,  260,  note;  influence  of  local  interests  at, 
79;  function  of  president  at,  274,  note. 

Teachers  at:  data  from,  402;  training  of, 
101 1,  Table  8,  p.  420;  salaries  of,  Table  15, 
p.  423 ;  salaries  in  department  of  education, 
284;  salaries  by  departments,  Table  16\  p. 
424;  programs  of,  108,  Table  IT,  p.  425;  ex- 
tent of  secondary  work,  Table  19,  p.  425; 
policy  toward  part-time,  286;  summer  in- 
structors (1916),  training,  salaries,  and  pro- 
grams, 2S9,  Tables  20,  21,  pp.  426,  427. 

Students  at:  data  from,  403 f.;  classified  stu- 
dent enrolment,  Table  22  A,  p.  428;  "stan- 
dard" enrolment,  Table  22  B,  p.  428;  policy 
toward  male  attendance,  204;  proportion  of 
men,  Table  23,  p.  428;  secondary  enrol- 
ment, Table  25,  p.  429;  nationality  of  par- 
ents, 117,  Table  27,  p.  429;  occupation  of 
father,  Table  28,  p.  430;  income  of  father, 
Table  29,  p.  431 ;  size  of  family,  Table  32, 
p,  431;  other  teachers  in  family.  Table  33, 
p.  432,-  normal  school  attendance  of  family, 
Table  34,  p.  432;  high  school  attendance, 
Table  35,  p.  432;  ratings  of  students  pre- 
pared at  normal  schools  and  at  high  schools, 
Table  37,  p.  433;  teaching  experience  of, 
Table  38,  p.  433;  examinations  for  admis- 
sion abandoned,  310,  note  4;  programs  of, 
298,  318  1,  330,  Tables  42,  43,  pp.  434  f.; 
size  of  classes,  Table  46,  p.  436;  method  of 
classification,  316;  secondary  versus  col- 
legiate classification,  317,  note  £;  grades  of 
(1913-14),  Table  44,  p.  435;  records  of, 
3371;  administration  of  credit,  89,  3371; 
effect  of  irregular  attendance  on  sequence, 
303;  opinion  of  teachers  on  irregular  at- 
tendance, 306. 

Curriculum:  election  of  professional  studies, 
168,  note  2;  course  in  rural  life  problems, 
175,  note  2$  ancient  languages,  232;  mod- 
ern foreign  languages,  234;  commercial 
subjects,  2431;  manual  arts,  £45;  library 
economy,  246;  physical  training,  247;  list 
of  all  collegiate  courses,  Tables  1,  0,  pp. 
406-411;  practice  facilities  at,  195. 
Training  school;  housing  and  equipment  of, 
197;  organization  of,  201;  lesson  plans,  216; 
conferences  of  practice  teachers,  218;  pro- 
gram of  studies,  220;  tests  of  training 
school,  2091,  443  ff.;  arithmetic,  446  if., 
455;  spelling,  4491;  penmanship,  4501; 
reading,  4511;  composition,  453;  final 
rank,  453;  progress  in  selected  abilities, 
4541;  selected  correlations,  451.,  456, 
Product  of:  in  teaching  population:  rural 
teachers,  362;  graded  elementary  teach- 
ers, 3651,  Tables  51-55,  pp.  4381;  high 
school  teachers,  374,  Tables  56,  57,  p.  439; 
city  and  town  superintendents,  378 1 ; 
county  superintendents,  380,  note;  bache- 


INDEX 


lor's  degrees  from,  Table  48,  p.  437;  em- 
ployment of  graduates  of  (1915),  Table 
49,  pp.  437  f.;  judgments  of  graduates  as  to 
training,  442. 

Centralization  of  state  educational  control,  63. 

Certificates:  held  by  rural  teachers  (1915),  £66; 
needed  restrictions  in,  269 ;  third  grade, 
305,  363;  normal  school  (1915),  employ- 
ment of  recipients,  437  f. 

Certification :  right  of,  acquired  by  normal 
schools,  345 ;  nature  of  present,  345 ;  ob- 
jections to  present  form  of,  346 ;  should  be 
specific,  346 ;  should  not  be  fixed  by  statute, 
347 ;  a  single  authority  for,  347 ;  function 
of  state  superintendent  in,  348 ;  share  of  the 
institutions  in,  348;  demands  a  unified 
administration,  349,  363;  conclusions  on, 
396. 

Chancellor  of  the  university,  Proposed,  68, 
388  f.;  duties  of,  389. 

Changes  since  1915,  6;  in  normal  school  admin- 
istration, 354  ff. ;  in  salaries  of  teachers,  383, 
note. 

Chemistry  for  teachers,  153. 

Chemistry,  Courses  in,  238,  Tables  1,2,  pp.  408, 
411. 

Cheney,  L.  H.,  urges  unified  policy  in  normal 
schools  (1875),  44. 

Christian  Brethren,  186. 

Classes  of  institutions  granting  degrees  to  teach- 
ers in  normal  schools,  in  the  Soldan  High 
School,  St.  Louis,  and  in  the  University  of 
Missouri,  101  f,?  Table  8  B,  p.  420. 

Classes  in  normal  schools:  size  of,  258,  264, 
Tables  46,  47,  pp.  436  f.;  duplication  of, 
258  f.;  composition  of,  314  f.,  403. 

Classification  of  students  in  normal  schools, 
313  ff.;  indefinite  character  of,  313;  theory 
of  "dropped  students,"  314,  note  1,  322, 
note  2;  procedure  at  Kirksville  and  its  re- 
sults, 314  f.;  procedure  0sewhere,  31 6;  opin- 
ions of  teachers  on,  317,  note  1;  fixed  curri- 
cula the  solution,  316. 

Clinton,  Governor  De  Witt,  and  preparation  of 
teachers,  30. 

Coleman,  W.  E,,  on  normal  schools,  39. 

Collection  and  treatment  of  data,  401  ff. 

Colleges  of  Education,  a  substitute  for  normal 
schools,  12,  55  f. 

Colleges  of  Missouri  visited,  6. 

Colleges  and  universities :  preparation  of  teach- 
ers in,  xv,  4;  relations  with  normal  schools, 
39  f. ;  see  also  Universities. 

Collegiate  courses:  nature  of,  149 fE;  students 
in,  177;  professional,  177 if.;  in  normal 
schools,  list  of,  Tables  1, 2,  pp.  406  ff.,  411. 

Collegiate  curricula  in  Missouri  normal  schools, 
166;  organisation  of,  392  f. 

Collegiate  programs  of  normal  school  students, 
318 1,  Tables  42,  43,  pp.  434  f. 

Collegiate  teachers,  Secondary  work  of,  285, 
Table  19,  p.  425. 


Colored  population  of  Missouri,  17. 

Colored  teachers,  see  Lincoln  Institute. 

Columbia,  Missouri,  pays  bonus  for  university, 
36. 

Commercial  subjects,  Courses  in,  243,  Tables 
1,  2,  pp.  409,  411;  mixture  of  students  in. 
243. 

Commissioner  of  Education,  Proposed  State, 
65 f.,  68,  388 f.;  United  States,  reports  of, 
20. 

Common  school  branches,  173. 

Composition  of  classes  in  normal  schools,  314  f. 

Composition,  Tests  of  training  schools  in,  452. 

Concentration:  of  practice  teaching,  222;  of  high 
school  curricula,  262. 

Conclusions,  General  statement  of,  7. 

Conclusions  and  proposals  of  the  study,  387  ff. ; 
constitutional  modifications,  388;  legisla- 
tive provisions,  388  f. ;  administrative  poli- 
cies, 390;  purpose  and  scope  of  normal 
schools,  391 ;  curricula,  391  ff.;  staff  of  in- 
struction, 395 ;  the  student  body,  396. 

"Conference  agreement"  of  normal  schools 
(1916),  61  f.;  value  of,  62;  extension  of,  62; 
provisions  of,  89 ;  standard  for  instructors, 
104  f.;  for  teaching  programs,  110,  note  4; 
establishes  secondary  curriculum,  164;  ter- 
minology of,  164,  note;  should  have  time  to 
mature,  387. 

Conference  of  Missouri  normal  school  presi- 
dents (1914),  162. 

Conferences  of  practice  teachers,  217. 

Constitution  of  Missouri,  18;  of  1820,  schools  for 
poor,  19,  note;  changes  proposed  in  pres- 
ent, 388;  changes  not  indispensable,  388, 
note. 

Control  of  normal  schools,  see  Normal  schools 
in  Missouri. 

Correlations  of  selected  abilities  of  pupils  in 
Missouri  training  schools :  speed  and  qual- 
ity of  writing  in  two  different  tests ;  speed 
or  silent  reading  and  quality  of  reproduc- 
tion; quality  of  reproduction  in  different 
tests;  "auditory"  and  " visual"  reproduc- 
tion, 454,  456, 

Course,  Length  of,  in  early  normal  schools,  29, 
32. 

Courses  in  normal  schools:  organization  of, 
172  fF.;  "curriculum,"  227;  how  profession- 
alized, 227, 393 ;  lack  of  sequence  in,  302  ff. ; 
'integrating,  183,  224,  394. 
Secondary  professional,  173;  common  school 
branches,  173;  psychology  of  learning,  174; 
rural  life  problems,  174;  rural  school  man- 
agement, 175;  methods  and  observation, 
176. 

Collegiate  professional,  177  ff.;  object  of,  393; 
position  of,  393;  "introduction  to  teach- 
ing," 189  f. ;  specific  methods,  225  ff. ;  list  of 
(1917-18),  Tables  1,  2,  pp.  406,  411. 
Collegiate  academic,  228  ff.;  English  and  pub- 
lic speaking,  228  if.;  ancient  languages, 


462 


INDEX 


232  f. ;  modern  foreign  languages,  234  f. ;  his- 
tory and  government,  235 f.;  mathematics, 
236  if.;  physics  and  chemistry,  238 f.;  bot- 
any, zoology,  physiology,  hygiene,  and 
sanitation,  239  f.;  geography  and  geology, 
240;  agriculture,  340  f.;  fine  arts,  242  f.; 
commercial  subjects,  243  f. ;  manual  or  in- 
dustrial arts,  245;  home  economics,  245  f. ; 
library  economy,  246;  physical  training, 
247;  list  of  (1917-18),  Tables  1,2,  pp.  406  if. , 
411. 

Courtis  tests,  443;  diagrams  of  training-school 
records  in,  455, 

Council,  Administrative,  for  preparation  of 
teachers,  56  f.,  97, 390. 

County  superintendents,  see  Superintendents. 

Cousin,  M.,  on  preparation  of  teachers  (1835), 
25,  26. 

Credentials:  for  admission,  308;  abandoned  in 
favor  of  **  proving  up,"  311 ;  policy  regard- 
ing: at  Kirksville,  330 ;  at  Warrensburg, 
336;  at  Cape  Girardeau,  338;  at  Spring- 
field, 339;  at  Maryville,  342;  proper  treat- 
ment of,  343,  note  I ;  see  also  Credit. 

Credit  at  normal  schools :  pressure  for  academic, 
74f. ;  bonus  system  at  Cape  Girardeau,  319  f. ; 
standard  too  low,  320;  administration  of, 
328;  at  Kirksville,  328  if.;  at  Warrensburg, 
336  f. ;  at  Cape  Girardeau,  337  ff. ;  at  Spring- 
field, 339  ff.;  at  Maryville,  341  f.;  essentials 
of  administration  of,  342  if.;  general  princi- 
ple of,  344;  conclusions  on,  396;  data  con- 
cerning, 403. 

Critic  teachers :  training  of,  100,  283;  status  of, 
213,394;  conclusions  regarding,  395 ;  see  also 
Supervision  of  practice  teaching. 

Crisis,  Present,  in  public  education,  13. 

Cummings,  H.  B.,  443. 

Curricula  in  normal  schools:  provisional  stan- 
dards for,  4;  definition  of,  394;  problems  in 
construction  of,  128  ff. ;  preparatory,  prefer- 
ably non-prescriptive,  131;  residence  re- 
quirements, 131  if.;  prescription  versus  elec- 
tion of  studies,  144  ff.;  "equivalence"  of 
courses  in,  146. 

Differentiation  in :  extent  and  criteria  of,  148; 
organized  professional  training,  149;  nature 
of  collegiate  professional  courses,  150  f.; 
professional  courses  for  high  school  teach- 
ers, 151  f.;  degree  of,  153  f.;  advantage 
of,  153;  mental  and  physical  reasons  for, 
155;  objections  to,  156;  for  administration, 
159;  for  rural  teachers,  160;  conclusions  on, 
392. 

in  Missouri:  early  forms,  29,  30, 32,  33;  early 
provision  for  high  school  graduates  at  War- 
rensburg, 309;  reorganization  (1904),  309  f. ; 
in  proposed  reorganization,  58;  favorable 
opportunity  for  reorganization,  124;  present 
organization,  161  ff. ;  characteristics,  161  ff.; 
as  "ladders  of  promotion,"  162  f. 
Secondary:  rural  certificate,  164;  contradic- 
tory aims  of,  165;  should  be  abolished,  130, 


166;  professional  courses,  173;  conclusions 
on,  392. 

Collegiate,  166  ff. :  non-professional  character 
of,  168;  organization  of  specific  courses, 
172;  general  principle  of  organization,  183, 
392  f.;  coordination  of  courses  in,  202  f.;  ob- 
servation, courses  in,  211  f.;  courses  in  spe- 
cific methods,  225 ff.;  courses  in  academic 
subjects,  228. 

Selection  and  distribution  of,  258  ff.,  395; 
concentration  necessary,  260  f.;  results  with 
undifferentiated  schools,  260;  concentra- 
tion of,  in  Latin,  261 ;  in  all  high  school  sub- 
jects, 262 ;  effect  of  present  policies  on,  264; 
number  and  kind  needed,  265  ff. 

Relation  of  president  to,  274,  276;  effect  of 
male  attendance,  294,  of  transient  attend- 
ance, 302;  regulation  of,  in  summer,  306; 
effect  of  prescription  on  classification  of 
students,  3161;  quality  of  teaching  a  fac- 
tor in,  247,  394 f.;  administration  of  the 
school  an  element  in,  353  f.,  397;  effect  of 
elective  system  on  (10  cases),  167  f.,  411  if.; 
list  of  collegiate  courses  (1917-18),  Tables 
1,  2,  pp.  406  ff.,  411;  collegiate  offerings 
(1917-18)  by  departments,  Table  2,  p.  411; 
for  kindergartners,  in  Harris  Teachers  Col- 
lege, 417;  for  elementary  teachers,  in  Har- 
ris Teachers  College,  169;  in  Kansas  City 
training  school,  418;  conclusions  as  to, 
391  if. 

" Curriculum"  courses,  227. 
Curriculum  of  the  training  school,  219  ff. 

DAMON,  L.  P.,  443. 

Data  used  in  study  of  the  preparation  of  teach- 
ers in  Missouri,  6,  401  ff.;  treatment  of,  404. 

Dates  of  establishment  of  state  normal  schools, 
418. 

Dearborn,  Walter  F.,  5,  404,  443. 

Dearmont,  W.  S.,  402. 

De  Garmo,  Charles,  188,  note. 

Degrees:  four-year,  granted  in  Missouri  nor- 
mal schools,  37,  87  f.,  344,  Table  48,  p.  437. 
of  teachers  in  Missouri  normal  schools,  100  f., 
Table  8,  p.  420;  class  of  institution  grant- 
ing, Table  8  B,  p.  420;  by  departments, 
282  f. ,  Table  9,  p.  421 ;  names  of  institutions 
granting,  Table  10,  p.  422. 
in  the  Soldan  High  School,  St.  Louis,  101, 

Table  8  B,  p.  420. 

in  the  University  of  Missouri,  101,  Table  8  B, 
p.  420. 

Democracy:  among  teachers,  181;  and  educa- 
tion, xvii  f.»  7;  as  justification  of  local  con- 
trol, 75  f. 

Denominational  colleges  in  Missouri,  19. 

Departments  in  normal  schools:  qualifications 
of  teachers  in  various,  282;  freedom  of 
teachers  in,  277;  salaries  in,  284;  degrees 
of  teachers  in,  Table  9,  p.  421. 

Dewey,  John,  186,  188. 


INDEX 


463 


Diesterweg,  F.  A.  W.,  promotes  preparation  of 
teachers,  27. 

Differentiation  of  curricula :  extent  and  criteria 
of,  148  ff.;  advantage  of,  153;  required  de- 
gree of,  153  f.;  mental  and  physical  reasons 
for,  153;  objections  to,  156  ff.;  preparation 
for  administration,  159;  preparation  of 
rural  teachers,  160;  conclusions  on,  395. 

Differentiation  of  normal  schools,  260 ;  need  of, 
260;  results  of,  applied  to  Latin,  261;  in 
high  school  curricula,  262;  advantages  of, 
263. 

Diplomas  in  normal  schools :  early  forms  of, 
344;  present  forms  of,  345;  see  also  De- 
grees. 

Distributed  practice  teaching,  222. 

Distribution  of  normal  school  graduates  (1915), 
357. 

"Dropped"  students  in  normal  schools,  322, 
note  2. 

Duplication  of  normal  school  classes,  258,  395. 

Dwight,  Henry  E.,  on  preparation  of  teachers 
(1829),  25. 

locale  normale,  26. 

Education : 

American :  superficial  character  of,  xvii;  im- 
portance of  the  teacher  in,  8;  requirements 
of,  in  a  democracy,  xvii;  effect  of  war  on, 
xviii;  present  crisis  in,   xviii,  13,  15;  re- 
sources available  for,  14. 
History  of,  see  History. 
List  of  collegiate  courses  in  (1917-18),  Tables 

1,  2,  pp.  406,  411.      , 

in  Missouri:  effect  of  Civil  War  on,  19;  pri- 
vate academies,  19;  religious  influences, 
19;  "subscription  "schools,  19;  schools  for 
poor,  19,  note;  state  superintendency  cre- 
ated, 19;  recent  legislation,  20;  statistical 
criteria  of,  SO ;  not  hampered  by  race  prob- 
lem, 21. 

State  department  of:  relations  with  training 
institutions,  67f.;  proposed  organization  of, 
in  Missouri,  68;  see  also  Administration, 
State  educational. 

Teachers  of,  100,  213 f.,  248,  283 f.;  conclu- 
sions regarding,  395. 

**  Educational  adviser,"  as  aid  to  teachers  in 
normal  schools,  #55  f. 

Educational  control,  State:  reorganization  of, 
63 if.;  unification  of,  in  Missouri,  65;  in 
Massachusetts,  65  f.;  in  Wisconsin,  65  f.;  in 
Illinois,  65  f.;  in  Iowa,  (56;  in  Kansas,  66; 
in  Montana,  66  f. 

Educational  institutions  in  Missouri,  Method 
of  locating,  35. 

Elective  system:  versus  prescription  of  studies, 
144  ff.;  professional  student  not  qualified 
for,  146;  attitude  of  student  not  improved 
by,  147;  not  a  reliable  measure  of  a  teach- 
er, 254, 


in  Missouri  normal  schools,  166  ff.;  wasteful 
results  of,  259;  restricted  by  economic  sit- 
uation, 261;  effects  of:  on  teachers,  277  f.; 
on  students,  279;  on  curricula,  166 if.,  Table 
3,  pp.  411  ff.;  conclusions  regarding,  392  ff. 

Elementary  instruction,  Attitude  of  Missouri 
normal  schools  toward,  170. 

Elementary  teachers :  normal  schools  in  early 
period  chiefly  for,  83  f.;  number  needed  in 
Missouri,  267 ;  among  normal  school  gradu- 
ates (1915),  358. 

in  Missouri  (1915) :  state  at  large,  364;  num- 
bers and  distribution  of,  364;  training  of, 
365;  contributions  of  normal  schools  to, 
366;  salaries  of,  367  f.;  in  St.  Louis  and 
Kansas  City,  368;  numbers  and  training, 
368  f.;  salaries,  369;  normal  school  attend- 
ance of,  Tables  51-55,  pp.  438  f. 

English  and  public  speaking,  228;  number  and 
variety  of  courses,  228;  professional  char- 
acter of,  239 ;  list  of  collegiate  courses  (1917- 
18),  Tables  1,  2,  pp.  406,  411. 

Enrolment  in  normal  schools :  total  classified, 
Table  22  A,  p.  428;  "standard,"  Table  22  B, 
p.  428;  of  men,  Table  23,  p.  428;  secondary, 
Table  25,  p.  429. 

Entrance  requirements,  see  Admission  to  nor- 
mal schools. 

Examinations  in  Missouri  normal  schools :  for 
admission,  308 ;  early  practice,  321 ;  relation 
to  elimination,  325;  effect  of  present  pol- 
icy, 327 ;  advantage  of  general  final,  327. 

Expansion,  Motives  for,  92  f. 

Expenditure  for  schools  per  capita  of  school 
population  in  Missouri,  SO. 

Expenditures  for  normal  schools,  State,  38  f., 
441. 

Experience  in  teaching:  of  students  in  normal 
schools,  123  f.,  £97,  Tables  38,  39,  p.  433;  of 
teachers  in  normal  schools,  105  f.,  281, 
Tables  12-14,  pp.  439  f. 

Experimental  elementary  school  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Missouri,  443,  note  1. 

Experimental  schools,  220  f.,  394. 

FACULTIES  of  normal  schools,  see  Teachers  in 
normal  schools. 

Failures  of  students  in  normal  schools,  321  ff., 
Tables  44, 45,  p.  435;  seasonal  variation  in, 
325,  Table  45,  p.  435. 

Families :  of  students  in  normal  schools,  size  of, 
1 18,  Table  32,  p.  431 ;  other  teachers  in,  1 18, 
Table  33,  p.  433;  income  of,  117. 
of  teachers  in  normal  schools,  other  teachers 
in,  99,  Table  7,  p.  419. 

Fathers :  of  students  in  normal  schools,  occupa- 
tions of,  117,  Table  28,  p.  430. 
of  teachers  in  normal   schools,  occupations 
of,  99,  Table  6,  p.  419. 

Finances,  Normal  school :  economy  of  reorgan- 
ized system  of  control,  58  f.;  of  differenti- 


464 


INDEX 


ated  curricula,  258  f. ,  369  f.;  state  partici- 
pation in,  38  f.,  441. 

Financial  attraction  of  teaching,  118, 1S5,  Table 
30,  p.  431. 

Financial  support  of  teachers,  xvii,  xviii,  10, 
12-15;  of  teachers  in  normal  schools,  114  f. , 
284  ff.,  290,  395;  set  also  Salaries. 

Fine  arts,  242 :  mixture  of  students  in  courses, 
242;  list  of  collegiate  courses,  Tables  1,  2, 
pp.  409,  411. 

Foreign  languages,  Modern,  234;  list  of  collegi- 
ate courses,  Tables  1,  2,  pp.  407,  411. 

Foster,  Richard  B.,  at  Lincoln  Institute,  385. 

Francke's  Semmarmm  praeceptorum,  27. 

Frederick  the  Great,  Influence  of,  on  prepara- 
tion of  teachers,  27. 

Froebel,  F.,  186,  187. 

Function  of  the  normal  school,  Statement  on 
(1866),  33. 

Funds,  school,  in  Missouri,  Income  of,  20. 

Furst,  Clyde,  5. 

GALLAUDET  Society,  New  Britain,  Connecticut 
(1850),  24. 

Gallaudet,  Thomas  H.,on  preparation  of  teach- 
ers (1825),  24. 

General  method,  Course  in :  history  of  the  name, 
187 ;  present  status  of,  189 ;  best  position  of, 
189;  at  Harris  Teachers  College,  189. 
and  principles  of  teaching,  187  ff. 

Geography,  Courses  in  (1917-18),  240,  Tables 
1,  2,  pp.  408,  411. 

Geology,  Courses  in,  240,  Table  1,  p.  408. 

German:  collegiate  rating  of,  at  Kirksville, 
332;  courses  in,  see  Modern  foreign  lan- 
guages. 

German  element  in  Missouri,  16;  among  stu- 
dents in  normal  schools,  117,  Table  27,  p. 
429. 

Germany,  Example  of,  in  preparation  of  teach- 
ers, 25,  27. 

Governor  of  Missouri,  xv,  3 ;  requests  study  of 
teacher-training,  3. 

Government,  Courses  in,  235,  Table  1,  p.  407. 

Government  and  control  of  normal  schools,  see 
Normal  schools. 

Grades,  Effect  of  u  approved,"  on  attendance, 

292. 
(ratings)  of  students  in  normal  schools  (1913- 

14),  321  ff.,  Tables  44,  45,  p.  435. 
School,  of  pupils  taught  by  normal  school 
graduates  (1915),  358. 

Graduate  degrees  of  teachers  in  normal  schools, 
103  ff. 

Graduates :  of  high  schools:  qualitative  distribu- 
tion among  subsequent  occupations,  121  f., 
Table  36,  pp.  432  f. 

of  normal  schools  :  data  concerning,  403 ; 
definition  difficult,  357 ;  proportion  of  two- 
year,  357 ;  of  1915 :  distribution,  occupa- 
tion, and  salaries  of,  357  if.,  Table  49,  p. 


437 ;  total  number  from  four-year  curricula, 
88,  Table  48,  p.  437;  at  University  of  Mis- 
souri, 360  f. 

Graduation  from  normal  schools :  history  of.  in 
Missouri,  344  f. ; unaffected  by  certification, 
345;  relation  to  total  attendance,  84-5;  time 
required  for :  at  Kirksville,  334  f. ;  at  War- 
rensburg,  337;  at  Cape  Girardeau,  339;  at 
Springfield,  340  f. ;  at  Maryville,  342 ;  con- 
clusions on,  396. 

Greek,  Collegiate  courses  in  (1917-18),  Table  1, 
p.  407;  see  also  Ancient  languages. 

HALL,  Samuel  R.,  on  preparation  of  teachers, 
23. 

Harnisch,  Wilhelm,  aids  preparation  of  teach- 
ers, 27. 

Harris  Teachers  College  :  establishment  of,  34- ; 
as  local  vocational  institution,  126" ;  should 
be  a  state  school,  60  f.,  127 ;  function  of,  in 
reorganized  state  system,  61  ;  estimate  of 
work  done  by,  205 ;  compared  with  state 
schools,  272. 
Teachers  at,  116  f.;  programs  of,  110;  data 

from,  402. 
Students  at,  99, 125  ff.;  inbreeding  of,  126 f.; 

failures  of,  323  f.;  data  from,  402  f. 
Curricula  at,  144 f.,  169,  41 7 f.;  coordination 
of  courses,  202  ff. ,  203,  note ;  courses  in  ob- 
servation, 211  f.;  for  kindergartners,  417. 
Practice  facilities,  196;  apprentice  system, 
202  ff.;  defects  and  advantages,  203;  sug- 
gested improvements,  204  ;  concentrated 
practice,  224;  position  of  practice,  224 ;  pro- 
gram of  studies  in  Wyrnan  School,  220. 
Product  of,  369,  372,  376. 

Harvard-Newton  Composition  Scale,  452. 

Harvard  University,  Studies  of  students  at,  998, 
note  1 ;  general  examinations  at,  328. 

Hecker,  J.  J.,  opens  teachers  seminary  (1748), 
p.  27. 

Herbart,  J.  F.,  186;  theory  of  teaching,  188. 

High  school,  State,  for  belated  students,  300  f., 
396. 

High  school  attendance  :  of  normal  school  stu- 
dents, 119  ff.,  Table  35,  p.  432 ;  results  of, 
compared  with  normal  school  training, 
122  f.;  of  students  at  Harris  Teachers  Col- 
lege, 125;  of  secondary  students  in  normal 
schools,  296  f.;  opportunities  for,  120,  297; 
desirability  of,  for  young  secondary  stu- 
dents in  normal  schools,  298. 

High  school  principals,  Data  from,  372,  note 
1,376,  note  4,  404. 

High  school  subjects,  Organization  of,  for 
teachers,  151  f. 

High  school  teachers  in  Missouri :  preparation 
of,  in  normal  schools,  85, 170,  Tables  56, 57, 
p.  439 ;  number  and  kind  needed  in  Missouri 
(1915),  267  f.;  normal  school  graduates 
(1915)  among,  358;  subjects  taught  by,  Ta- 
ble 58,  p.  440;  employed  in  summer  sessions 


INDEX 


465 


of  normal  schools,  289;  in  state  at  large 
(1915),  372  ff.;  numbers  and  training  of, 
373  ;  contribution  of  normal  schools  to, 
373  if. ;  salary  of,  375  ;  in  St.  Louis  and  Kan- 
sas City  (1915),  375 f.;  numbers  and  train- 
ing of,  375  f.;  salary  of,  376. 

High  school  training-classes,  130;  a  temporary 
policy,  130;  in  Minnesota,  176f.;  increased 
demands  upon,  369. 

High  schools:  development  of,  85  f,;  as  incipient 
normal  schools,  86 ;  relations  with  normal 
schools,  B6f.,  313  ;  relations  with  university, 
87 ;  instruction  in,  how  "advanced,"  133  f.; 
social  distinctions  of,  134  f.;  free  tuition  at, 
in  Missouri,  398,  note  2 ;  quality  of  gradu- 
ates attending  normal  schools,  Table  36, 
p.  432. 

History  of  education,  184;  variations  in,  among 
Missourischools,  184;  function  of,  in  teacher- 
training,  184;  textbooks  on,  184,  note;  value 
of,  in  teacher-training,  185  f.;  suggested  re- 
organization of,  186  f.;  place  of,  m  curricu- 
lum, 393;  courses  in,  Table  1,  p.  406. 

History,  political  and  social  science,  Courses  in 
(1917-18),  235  f.,  Tables  1,  2,  pp.  407  f.,  411. 

History,  Professionalized  course  in,  151. 

Hollister,  H.  A.,  Study  by,  185,  note. 

Holmes,  Henry  W.,  450. 

Home  economics,  Courses  in,  245,  Tables  1,  2, 
pp.  410  f.;  mixture  of  students  in,  245. 

Housing,  why  not  considered,  4. 

Hygiene,  Courses  in,  239,  Table  1,  p.  408. 

IDAHO,  rank  in  wealth  and  school  expenditure, 

91. 

Illinois,  Educational  organization  in,  65. 
Illinois  school  survey,  154. 
Illinois,  University  of,  405. 
Illiteracy,  White,  in  Missouri,  20;  due  to  poor 

rural  schools,  161. 
Immigration  into  Missouri,  16. 
Income  of  fathers  of  normal  school  students, 

11 7,  Table  29,  p.  431. 
Industrial  arts,  Courses  in,  245,  Tables  1,  9,  pp. 

410  f. 

Industries  in  Missouri,  17. 
lt  Initiative  "  not  helped  by  election,  148. 
Inspection  of  practice  teaching,  216  f. 
Insurance  of  normal  school  teachers,  116. 
u Integrating"  courses,  394. 
Intelligence  versus  skill  in  teaching,  393. 
Intentions  of  students  in  normal  schools  as  to 

teaching,  124,  943 ff.,  £99  f.,  Tables  40,  41, 

p.  434. 

Intermediate  grades,  Training  for,  154. 
"  Introduction  to  teaching,"  174, 182,  399. 
Iowa,  Educational  organization  in,  66. 

JEFFERSON-  CITY,  Conference  at,  3. 
Jesuits,  186. 
Johonnot,  James,  84. 


Johnson,  W.   R.,   on   preparation  of  teachers 

(1895),  23. 

Josselyn,  H.  W.,  5,  405. 
Journal  of  Education,  99  f. 
Judd,  C.  H.,  and  Parker,  S.  C.,  quoted,  184, 

note  2,  913,  note  1. 
Judgments  of  Missouri  teachers  concerning  ele- 

ments in  their  training,  181,  note  1,  184, 

189,  226,  442. 
Julius,  H.,  influence  on  preparation  of  teachers 

(1834),  25, 


w,  I.  L.,  5. 

Kansas  City:  elementary  teachers  at,  368  if.  ;  high 
school  teachers  at,  373,  375  f.;  supervisors 
at,  371  f.;  curriculum  of  training  school  at, 
418. 

Kansas,  Educational  organization  in,  66. 

Kansas  silent  reading  tests,  451.  , 

Kelly,  F.  J.,  quoted,  213. 

Kindergartners  :  curriculum  for,  at  Harris 
Teachers  College,  417  f.;  differentiated  cur- 
riculum for,  153. 

Kingsley,  James  L.,  on  preparation  of  teachers 
(1823),  22. 

Kirksville,  Normal  school  at  :  establishment  of, 
34;  as  state  school,  35;  Joseph  Baldwin  at, 
34  f  .  ;  dispute  over  location  of,  36  ;  growth  in 
numbers,  37;  early  finances,  38  f.;  early  or- 
ganization, 82  f  .;  early  professional  purpose 
at,  70;  "People's  College"  at,  71  f.;  official 
literature  of,  52  f,;  function  of  president  at, 
274,  note;  summer  school  administration 
at,  290  f.;  attitude  toward  examinations, 
308,  note  2,  309;  examinations  disappear 
from,  310,  note  4;  records  at,  330  ff.  ;  4  '  merit 
system"  at,  329;  administration  of  credit 
at,  89,  96,  328  ff.;  time  required  for  gradua- 
tion, 334  ff. 

Teachers  at:  data  from,  401;  degrees  of,  100, 
notes  1,  2,  p.  101,  Tables  8,  9,  pp.  420  1; 
training  of,  102;  programs  of,  108,  Table  17, 
p.  425  ;  salaries  of,  114,  Table  15,  p.  423;  sal- 
aries by  departments,  Table  16,  p.  424;  sal- 
aries in  department  of  education,  284;  sec- 
ondary and  collegiate  work  of,  285  ff., 
290  f.,  Table  19,  p.  425;  exceptional  excel- 
lence of,  355;  part-time  student-teachers 
at,  287;  meetings  of,  275;  salaries  and  pro- 
grams of  summer  instructors  (1916),  290, 
Table  SI,  p.  427;  training  of  summer  in- 
structors (1916),  289,  Table  20,  p.  426. 
Students  at  :  data  from,  403  f.;  classified  total 
enrolment  of,  294,  301,  note,  Tables  22-25, 
pp.  428  f,;  teachers'  opinions  on  student  at- 
tendance, 306  ;  nationality  of  parents,  Table 
27,  p,  429;  occupation  of  father,  Table  98, 
p.  430;  income  of  father,  Table  29,  p.  431; 
size  of  family,  Table  32,  p.  431  ;  other  teach- 
ers in  family,  Table  33,p.  432;  normal  school 
attendance  of  family,  Table  34,  p.  432;  high 
school  attendance  of,  Table  35,  p.  439; 
teaching  experience  of,  Table  38,  p.  433; 


466 


INDEX 


teaching  intentions  of,  Table  40,  p.  434; 
programs  of  (1913-14),  318  f.,  Tables  42, 
43,  pp.  434  f.;  grades  of  (1913-14),  Tables 
37,  44,  45,  pp.  433,  435;  comparison  of 
grades  of  students  prepared  at  normal 
schools  and  those  prepared  at  high  schools, 
Table  37,  p.  433;  method  of  classifying  stu- 
dents, 314;  composition  of  classes,  314 if.; 
size  of  classes,  436. 

Development  of  curriculum  at,  328  f.;  elective 
system,  167,  314  ff.;  election  of  profes- 
sional studies,  168,  note  2;  course  in  rural 
life  problems,  175,  note  2;  modern  foreign 
languages,  234;  history  and  government, 
235;  omission  of  biology,  239  f.;  geogra- 
phy, 240;  agriculture,  240;  fine  arts,  242; 
commercial  subjects,  243 f.;  library  econ- 
omy, 246;  physical  training,  247;  list  of 
collegiate  courses  (1917-18),  Tables  1,  2, 
pp.  406,  411;  practice  facilities,  195  ff.; 
model  rural  school,  176. 

Training  school  at :  organization  and  proced- 
ure in,  200  f.;  housing  and  equipment  of, 
197,  198;  program  of,  220;  lesson  plans  at, 
21 5  f.;  conferences  of  practice  teachers  at, 
218;  standard  tests  of,  443  ff. :  arithmetic, 
446  ff.,  455;  spelling,  449  f.;  penmanship, 
450  f . ;  reading,  451 ;  composition,  452 ;  final 
rank,  453;  progress  in  selected  abilities, 
454  f.;  selected  correlations,  454,  456. 

Product  of:  early  degrees,  344;  bachelor's 
degrees,  88,  note  3,  Table  48,  p.  437; 
employment  of  graduates  (1915),  Tables 
49,  50,  pp.  437  f.;  in  teaching  population: 
rural  teachers,  363;  graded  elementary 
teachers,  365  f.,  Tables  51-55,  pp.  438  f.; 
Kansas  City  teachers,  370,  note;  high  school 
teachers,  374,  note,  Tables  56,  57,  p.  439; 
city  and  town  superintendents,  378 ;  county 
superintendents,  380,  note;  judgment  of 
graduates  as  to  training,  442. 

LANGUAGES:  ancient,  232  ff.,  Tables  1,  2,  pp. 
406  f.,  411 ;  modern  foreign,  234 f.,  Tables  1, 
2,  pp.  407,  411. 

Latin :  results  of  concentration  of  curricula  in, 
261  f.;  collegiate  rating  of,  at  Kirks ville, 
332;  courses  in  (1917-18),  232  ff.,  Tables  1, 
2,  pp.  4061,411. 

Lawson,  E.  L,  Study  by,  160,  note. 

Learned,  W.  S.,  5. 

Leaves  of  absence  for  teachers  in  normal 
schools,  281. 

Legislation,  Educational:  pledge  to  teach, 
72 f.;  curricula  limited  by,  78,  note;  rela- 
tion to  administration,  64,  347  ff. ;  required 
for  teacher  supply,  269;  for  certification, 
305;  proposed,  388. 

Lesson  plans  in  practice  teaching,  215  f. 

**  Liberal"  courses  in  normal  school  curricula, 
392. 

Library  economy,  Courses  in,  246  f.,  Tables  1, 
2,pp,  410,  Ml, 


Lincoln,  E.  A.,  443. 

Lincoln  Institute:  history,  character,  and  needs 

of,  34,  385  f.;  transferred  to  proposed  Board 

of  Education,  390. 
Lindsey,   Philip,  on   preparation   of  teachers 

(1825),  23. 
Literature,  Professionalized  course  in,  150;  see 

also  English. 

Lobbying  for  normal  schools,  75. 
Local  attendance  at  normal  schools,  118  f.;  at 

Harris  Teachers  College,  125. 
Locating  educational  institutions,  Method  of, 

35  f. 


N,  John  G.,  on  normal  schools,  31. 

McMurry,  Charles  A.,  5,  188,  404. 

McMurry,  Frank  M.,  188. 

Maclean,  John,  on  preparation  of  teachers 
(1828),  24. 

Major,  Elliott  W.,  xv,  3. 

Management,  School,  190  ff,  ;  position  of  courses 
in,  191,393. 

Mann,  Horace,  28;  visits  Missouri,  3k 

Manual  or  industrial  arts,  245;  courses  in,  Ta- 
bles 1,  2,  pp.  410,  411. 

Manufactures  in  Missouri,  18. 

Married  women  as  teachers  :  attitude  toward, 
139;  employment  of,  140  ff.,  391. 

Mary  ville,  Normal  school  at  :  establishment  of, 
34;  location  of,  36;  character  of  board  at, 
46;  early  organization  of,  47;  conception  of 
function,  73;  records  at,  341  f.;  administra- 
tion of  credit  at,  341  f.;  summer  school  ad- 
ministration at,  290. 

Teachers  at:  data  from,  402;  training  and  de- 
grees of,  101  ff.,  Table  8,  p.  420;  salaries  of, 
114,  Table  15,  p.  423;  salaries  by  depart- 
ments, 284,  Table  16,  p.  494;  programs  of, 
Table  17,  p.  425;  mixture  of  secondary  and 
collegiate  instruction,  Table  19,  p.  425;  can- 
vass of  district  by,  281  ;  meetings  of,  275  ; 
part-time  student  teachers,  286  1;  training 
of  summer  instructors,  289,  Table  20,  p. 
426  ;  salaries  and  programs  of  summer  in- 
structors (1916),  Table  21,  p.  427. 
Students  at  :  data  from,  402  f.  ;  attendance  of, 
37  ;  teachers'  opinions  on  irregular  attend- 
ance of,  306;  classified  total  enrolment, 
Tables  22-25,  pp.  428  f.  ;  nationality  of  par- 
ents of,  117,  Table  27,  p.  429;  occupation 
of  father,  Table  28,  p.  430;  income  of  fa- 
ther, Table  29,  p.  431;  size  of  family,  Table 

32,  p.  431  ;  other  teachers  in  family,  Table 

33,  p.  432;  normal  school  attendance  of 
family,  Table  34,  p.  432;  high  school  attend- 
ance of,  120,  note  3,  Table  35,  p.  432;  teach- 
ing experience,  Table  38,  p.  433;  teaching 
intention  of,  Table  40,  p.  434;  programs  of, 
Tables  42  and  43,  pp.  434  f.;  grades  of, 
Tables  44  and  45,  p.  435;  size  of  classes, 
Table  46,  p.  436;  method  of  classification, 
316;  administration  of  credit,  341  f.;  pledge 


INDEX 


467 


to  teach,  307 ;  examinations  of,  310,  note  4. 
Curriculum :  effect  of  attendance  on  sequence 
in,  303,  note  2,  304;  physical  training,  247, 
Tables  1,  2,  pp.  41  Of.;  practice  facilities, 
195  if. 

Training1  school  at :  organization  of,  201 ; 
housing  and  equipment  of,  198 ;  program 
of,  220 ;  lesson  plans  at,  216 ;  conferences 
of  practice  teachers  at,  218  f.;  standard 
tests  of,  4 13  if.:  arithmetic,  446  ff.,  455; 
spelling,  4!<9  f. ;  penmanship,  450  f.;  read- 
ing, 451  f.;  composition,  452  f.;  final  rank, 
453  ;  progress  in  selected  abilities,  454  f . ; 
selected  correlations,  454,  456. 
Product  of ;  bachelor's  degrees  from,  Table 
48,  p.  437 ;  employment  of  graduates  (1915), 
Table  49,  pp.  437 f.;  rural  teachers,  362; 
graded  elementary  teachers,  365  f., Tables 
51-55,  pp.  438  f.;  Kansas  City  teachers, 
370,  note  ;  high  school  teachers,  374,  Table 
57,  p.  439 ;  city  and  town  superintendents, 
378;  county  superintendents,  380,  note; 
judgment  of  graduates  as  to  training,  442. 

Massachusetts :  educational  organization  in, 
65  f . ;  rank  of,  in  school  expenditure,  20. 

Massachusetts  Magazine  (1789),  Extract  from, 
22. 

Master  of  Pedagogy,  Degree  of,  37. 

Mathematics:  courses  in,  236  ff.,  Tables  1,  2, 
pp.  408,  411;  composite  courses  in  ap- 
plied mathematics,  237  ;lack  of  professional 
purpose,  237;  in  high  school,  152;  teaching 
of,  in  normal  schools,  248 ;  teachers  of,  in 
normal  schools,  107,  115,  282,  284  f.,  440. 

Measurements  of  training  schools,  5,  209  f., 
443  ff. 

Men  as  normal  school  students,  75,  81,  292  ff., 
396,  Tables  22,  23,  p.  428. 

Men  teachers,  Proportion  of,  in  Missouri,  139. 

Meriara,  J.  L.,  Study  by,  182,  note. 

"Merit  system"  at  Kirksville,  329. 

Method  and  personnel  of  the  enquiry,  5. 

Methods  and  observation,  Course  in,  176. 

Methods:  of  supervision  of  practice,  214;  of 
teaching,  secondary  courses  in,  174;  col- 
legiate courses  in  general  and  special, 
225  ff.,  187  ff.;  position  of,  393 ;  value  of,  to 
teachers,  226;  relation  of,  to  subject-matter 
courses,  227. 

Minnesota,  Training-classes  in,  176  f. 

Missouri,  State  of,  16 :  surface  features,  16;  pop- 
ulation of,  characteristics  of,  16;  immigra- 
tion into,  16;  rank  in  wealth,  20;  political 
history  of,  18;  constitutions  of,  18;  desir- 
able modifications  in  constitution  of,  62, 
388;  educational  development  of,  18  ff.;  in- 
fluence of  southern  states,  19 ;  educational 
situation  typical  of  United  States,  20. 

Model  school :  in  early  normal  schools,  29  ;  see 
also,  Training  school. 

Model  teaching,  229  ff.,  235,  236;  see  also, 
Teaching,  Training  school. 


Modern  foreign  languages,  234,  Tables  1,  2,  pp. 

407,  411. 

Money  available  for  education,  15. 
Montana,  Educational  organization  in,  66  f. 
Montclair,  State  normal  school  at  :  proportion  of 

student  failures  at,  323,  note  1. 
Monteith,  John,  19,  35;  on  boards  of  regents,43; 

on  function  of  a  board,  46  ;  on  function  of 

normal  schools,  71,  84  f. 
MoraU  of  the  training  schools,  205  ff. 
Music,  Courses  in,  242  f.,  Tables  1,  2,  pp.  409, 

411. 


JN  ATIONAOTY  of  parents  of  students  in  normal 
schools,  117,  Table  27,  p.  429, 

Nativity  of  students  in  normal  schools,  117. 

Normal  schools  in  the  United  States  :  origin  and 
growth  of,  22  ff.  ;  origin  of  term,  26  ;  legis- 
lative activity  in  Massachusetts  for  (1835), 
28;  first  opened  in  Massachusetts,  28;  be- 
come "state  normal  schools"  in  Massa- 
chusetts, 28;  in  Connecticut,  S9;  versus 
normal  classes  in  colleges,  academies,  and 
high  schools,  30  ff.;  in  New  York,  30  f.;  in 
Michigan,  31;  in  Maine,  31;  in  Wisconsin, 
31;  early  (1866)  view  of  function  of,  33; 
model  schools  in,  29;  curricula  in  Massa- 
chusetts (dr.  1840),  29;  curricula  in  1866, 
32;  dates  of  first  establishment  of  state 
normal  schools,  418. 

Normal  schools  in  Missouri:  study  of,  see  Prep- 
aration of  teachers;  origin  and  growth  of, 
34  ff.;  early  efforts  for,  34;  promoted  by 
teachers  association,  34  ;  three  state  schools 
established,  19,  35  ;  growth  in  numbers, 
37;  opposition  to,  19,  38;  financial  strug- 
gles, 38;  effect  of  poverty  on,  39;  state  ex- 
penditures for,  441  ;  changes  in  status  and 
scope,  36  f.;  summer  session,  36;  develop 
collegiate  work,  37. 

Government  and  control  of,  4£:  original 
plan  of  a  single  board,  42;  separate  boards, 
43;  non-partisan  provision,  43  ;  attempts  to 
unify  educational  procedure,  44;  function  of 
a  board,  46;  politics,  47;  other  weaknesses, 
48;  diversity  of  practice,  50;  lack  of  critical 
supervision,  50  r.;  competition  with  univer- 
sity, 51;  proposed  reorganization,  54;  are- 
organized  university,  12,  55  f.;  professional 
executives,  56;  effects  of  proposed  reorgan- 
ization, 57;  city  training  schools  included, 
60;  voluntary  cooperation,  61  ;  reorganiza- 
tion of  state  educational  control,  63;  cen- 
tralization, 63;  state  unit  of  administration, 
63;  advantages,  64;  unification  of  control  in 
Missouri,  65;  experiments  elsewhere,  65; 
lessons  from  experience,  67  ff. 
Function  and  scope  of:  general  function, 
70  ff.;  early  aims,  70  ff.,  301  f.;  variations  in 
ideas  of  function,  71  ff.;  diversity  of  policy, 
49  f.  ;  effect  of  local  control,  75  ;  should  be 
leaders  of  public  opinion,  76,  162;  profes- 


468 


INDEX 


sional  purpose,  81 ;  obligation  to  state,  78, 
81  f. ;  statutory  limitations,  78,  note;  should 
train  teachers  only,  78  ff. ;  early  organiza- 
tion, 82  ff.;  scope  of  organization,  82  ff.; 
prepare  high  school  teachers,  85  ff. ;  reor- 
ganization of  curriculum  (1904),  87,  309; 
character  of  advanced  work,  88 f.,  228; 
scope,  how  determined,  89  if.;  i 'standard" 
institutions,  90  f. ;  reasons  for  present  policy 
of  expansion,  election,  etc.,  91  f.;  motives 
for  expansion,  92  ff. ;  service  to  professional 
training,  95  f,;  neglect  of  rural  teachers, 
160;  attitude  toward  elementary  instruc- 
tion, 170;  need  of  organized  criticism,  98. 

Problems  in  administration  of:  demands  upon 
for  teacher  supply,  269;  presidents  of, 
272  ff.;  male  attendance  at,  292  if,;  sec- 
ondary students  at,  295  if. ;  organization  of 
attendance  at,  301  if.;  propaganda  to  secure 
students,  52;  admission  and  classification, 
307  ff.;  student  programs,  317  ff.;  student 
examinations  and  rating,  321  if. ;  why  non- 
selective,  326;  administration  of  credit, 
328 ff.;  graduation,  certification,  and  ap- 
pointment, 344  if. ;  general  tone  of  admin- 
istration, 354. 

Competition  among,  50;  effects,  53;  local 
board  system  responsible,  53 f.;  need  for 
reorganization  and  common  action,  272, 
276 ;  voluntary  cooperation,  44,  61  f. ,  89 ;  re- 
lations with  colleges  and  universities,  39  f. ; 
with  the  University  of  Missouri,  51  f.;  credit 
in  the  University  of  Missouri  for  work  in 
normal  schools,  80. 

Product  of,  357  ff. :  responsibility  for  teachers 
in  service,  352;  graduation,  certification, 
and  appointment,  344  ff. ;  degrees  offered, 
37,  87  f. ;  recipients  of  four-year  degrees,  88, 
note,  Table  48,  p.  437;  graduates  (1915), 
357  ff. ,  Tables  49,  50,  p.  437  f. ;  rural  school 
teachers,  361  ff. ;  graded  elementary  school 
teachers,  364  ff.,  Tables  51-55,  pp.  438 f.; 
high  school  teachers,  372  ff.,  Tables  56-58, 
pp.  439 f.;  city  and  town  superintendents, 
376 ff*;  county  superintendents, 379  f.;  sum- 
mary of  service  to  the  state,  380  ff.;  geo- 
graphical limitations,  380 f.;  reasons  for, 
381 ;  influence  of  service  vague,  381 ;  spe- 
cific contribution  to  supply  of  trained 
teachers,  381. 

Proposals  for  preparation  of  teachers  in, 
387  ff. 

Curricula  in,  see  Curricula. 

Students  in,  see  Students. 

Teachers    and   teaching   in,  see   Teachers, 

Teaching. 
North  American  Review,  Extract  from  (1823), 


OBSERVATION,  Courses  in,  211  ff,,  Table  1,  p. 

406. 
Occupations  :  of  fathers  of  students  in  normal 

schools,  117,  Table  28,  p.  430;  of  fathers  of 


teachers  in  normal  schools,  99,  Table  6,  p. 

419;  of  graduates  of  normal  schools  (1915), 

357,  Tables  49,  50,  pp.   437  f.;   of  general 

population  in  Missouri,  17. 
Ohio :  statement  of  Commissioner  of  Common 

Schoolson  functionof  normal  schools(1866), 

33. 
Olmstead,  Denison ,  on  preparmgteachers  (1 81 L2 ), 

22. 
Ontario,  Practice  facilities  for  training  teachers 

in,  197,  note. 
Organization:  of  normal  schools  in  Germany, 

27  f.,  in  United  States,  28  ff.,  in  Missouri, 

34  ff. 
of  training  for  teachers  in  Missouri:  present, 

42  ff.,  82  ff.;  proposed,  54  ff.,  388  ff. 
of  state  educational  control:  general,  63 ff.; 

in  Massachusetts,  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Iowa, 

Kansas,  Montana,  65  ff.;  proposed  in  Mis- 
souri, 65,  67  ff.,  388  ff. 
of  curricula,  149,  161ff. ;  of  specific  courses, 

172  ff.;  of  curriculum  distribution,  258  if. 
of  normal  school  staff,  276  ff.;   of  normal 

school  student  body,  292  ff. 
Conclusions  as  to:  external,  388  ff.;  internal, 

391  ff. 

Osborne,  George  L.,  38,  39,  44,  84,  355. 
Oswego,  Influence  of  normal  school  at,  32. 

PARENTS  of  teachers  in  normal  schools,  99,  Ta- 
ble 6,  p.  419;  of  students  in  normal  schools, 
117,  Tables  27-29,  pp.  429  if. 

Participation  in  teaching,  see  Training  schools. 

Part-time  teachers  in  normal  schools,  286  f. 

Penmanship,  Tests  of  training  schools  in,  450  f. 

Per  capita  costs,  Omission  of,  4. 

Periods,  Length  of,  in  normal  schools,  110, 
note  2. 

Personnel  of  the  enquiry,  5. 

Personnel  of  Missouri  normal  schools,  99  ff. 

Pestalozzi,  J.  H.,  27, 186. 

Physical  training,  Collegiate  courses  in  (1917- 
18),  247,  Tables  1,  2,  pp.  410,  411. 

Physics  and  chemistry,  Courses  in  (1917-18), 
238,  Tables  1,  2,  pp.  408,  411. 

Physiology,  Courses  in,  239  f.,  Table  1,  p.  408. 

Pickard,  J.  L.,  on  normal  schools,  31. 

Pierce,  John  D.,  advocates  preparation  of 
teachers,  31. 

Plamann,  J.  E.,  opens  teachers  seminary  in  Ber- 
lin (1803),  27. 

Plans  of  lessons,  215. 

Plato,  on  the  place  of  education  in  the  state,  9. 

Pledge  to  teach:  requirement  of,  72,  307;  im- 
portance of,  307. 

Politics  in  boards  of  regents,  47  f. 

Population  of  Missouri:  characteristics  of,  16; 
German  element  in,  16  f.;  colored  element 
in,  17;  gain  and  loss  in,  17;  occupations  of, 
'  typical  of  United  States,  17. 


INDEX 


469 


Population  of  Missouri,  Teaching,  3,  265 if., 
361  ff.,  405,  Tables  51-57,  pp.  438  f. 

Positions  sought  by  students  in  normal  schools, 
3 18,  293,  294,  notes  3,  4,  Tables  41,  49,  50, 
pp.  434,  437  f . 

Potter,  Alonzo,  advocates  separate  normal 
schools,  30;  reports  on  preparation  of 
teachers  in  academies,  30. 

Practice  schools,  see  Training  schools. 

Practice  teaching,  see  Training1  schools. 

Preparation  of  lessons,  Time  required  for,  in 
normal  schools,  320. 

Preparation  of  teachers,  Study  of :  requested  by 
the  Governor  of  Missouri,  xv,  3;  inaugu- 
rated at  conference,  3;  endorsed  by  Mis- 
souri educators,  3;  original  plans  of  Foun- 
dation, 3;  development  of,  xv,  3f.;  in  col- 
leges and  universities,  xv,  4;  character  and 
circumstances,  3;  method  and  personnel, 
5  ff.;  nature  of  treatment,  xvi,  6;  limited 
to  educational  features,  4;  Missouri  typical 
of  the  entire  country,  5;  field  work  in,  6; 
cooperation  of  normal  school  teachers,  6  f. ; 
relations  with  normal  schools,  6  f.,  354 f.; 
data  from  normal  schools,  6,  401  ff.;  data 
from  state  at  large,  6,  405;  omission  of  re- 
cent changes,  6;  conclusions  of,  7  ff.,  387 ff. 

Preparation  of  teachers:  nature  of  problem,  3; 
a  state  enterprise,  3;  aim  identical  through- 
out the  country,  4;  importance  of,  to  demo- 
cracy, 7;  new  standards  essential,  9;  obli- 
gations of  state  and  city  educational  offi- 
cers, 12, 

State  administration  of:  a  homogeneous  un- 
dertaking, 55;  central  control  for,  55,  65; 
professional  board  of  executives  for,  56  f., 
390;  effects  of  proposed  reorganization, 
57 ff.;  chief  problem  of  state  administra- 
tion, 65  ff. 

Standards  of:  two  theories  of  training,  76;  ob- 
stacles disappearing,  79  f. ;  tendency  to  im- 
prove, 128,  138;  good  results  from,  128; 
subject-matter  well  developed,  128;  a  prob- 
lem of  equal  justice,  129;  Missouri's  com- 
promise program,  129 f.;  money  cost  tri- 
fling, 129;  residence  requirements,  131  ff.; 
should  be  equivalent  for  all  teachers,  132; 
disparity  of  training  injurious,  137  f.;  out- 
look for  a  new  program,  139;  need  of  ex- 
tended service,  139  ff.;  relation  of  marriage 
to,  139  ff.,  144;  effect  of  prolonged  tenure 
on,  144;  prescription  versus  election  in, 
144  ff.;  differentiation  in,  148;  "broad 
scholarship,"  149;  incidental  versus  organ- 
ized training,  149. 

Proposals  for,  in  Missouri,  387  ff.;  see  also, 
Administration ;  Curricula ;  Normal  schools ; 
Students;  Training  schools;  Teachers. 

Preparation  of  teachers  in  service  in  Missouri: 
see  Teachers  in  Missouri  (rural;  graded 
elementary;  high  school;  normal  school). 

Preparation  of  the  teachers  in  the  Missouri 
normal  schools,  see  Teachers  in  normal 
schools. 


Prescribed  cnrricula,  Need  of,  144  ff.,  166  ff., 
228  f.,  259  f.,  277  f.,  295,  316  f.,  391  ff. 

Prescription:  definition  of,  I4>5;  versus  election 
of  studies,  144  ff. 

Presidents  of  normal  schools :  powers  and  duties 
of,  273;  function  and  prerogative  of,  274  f.; 
prerogative  should  be  limited,  276;  pro- 
posed council  of,  56  f.,  390;  duties  of  coun- 
cil, 390  f. ;  conclusions  regarding,  395. 

Primary  grades,  Training  for,  153. 

Principals:  elementary:  at  St.  Louis,  371  f.,  at 
Kansas  City,  371  f.;  high  school,  372,  note 
1,  376,  note  4;  data  from,  404  f. 

Principles  of  teaching:  course  in,  187  ff.,  Table 
1,  p.  406;  position  of,  393. 

Pritchett,  Henry  S.,  xix,  5. 

Product  of  normal  schools  in  Missouri,  357  ff.; 
graduates  of  1915 :  distribution  and  occupa- 
tion of,  357  1,  Tables  49,  50,  pp.  437  f. ;  re- 
lation of  salaries  to  training,  359  f.;  normal 
school  graduates  at  the  university,  360  f.; 
students  among  the  teaching  population, 
361  ff.:  in  rural  schools,  361  ff.;  in  graded 
elementary  schools,  364  ff.;  in  high  schools, 
372  ff.;  as  city  and  town  superintendents, 
376  ff.;  as  county  superintendents,  379  f.; 
service  of  the  normal  schools  to  the  state, 
380  ff. 

Professional  courses:  secondary,  164  ff.,  173  ff., 
392,  Table  1,  p.  406;  collegiate,  166  ff., 
177  ff. ,  392  ff.,  Tables  1, 2,  pp.  406,  411 ;  in- 
terschool  variations  in,  178;  introductory 
psychology,  178  f.;  advanced  psychology, 
179  ff. ;  history  of  education,  184  ff.;  general 
method  and  principles  of  teaching,  187  ff. ; 
school  management,  class  management, 
and  school  economy,  190  ff.;  observation, 
participation,  and  practice  teaching,  192  ff. 

Professional  subjects,  Teachers  of,  in  normal 
schools:  training  of,  100,  213 f,,  248,  283, 
Table  9,  p.  421 ;  tenure  and  experience  of, 
284;  salaries  of,  213 f.,  284  f.,  Table  16,  p. 
424. 

Professional  training,  see  Preparation  of  teach- 
ers ;  Curricula ;  Normal  schools. 

Professionalized  academic  courses,  149  ff.,  297, 
231,  234 ff.;  curricula,  149  ff.,  392. 

Program  of  studies  in  training  schools,  219ff.; 
responsibility  for,  219;  character  of,  219. 

Programs:  of  teachers  in  normal  schools,  108  f., 
264  f.,  Table  17,  p.  425;  in  summer  (1916), 
p  290,  Table  21,  p.  427 ;  of  students  in  nor- 
mal schools,  317  IF.,  Tables  3,  43,  43,  pp. 
411  ff.,  434  f.;  pressure  for  speed  in,  317  f.; 
objections  to  restrictions,  318 ;  collegiate 
programs,  318f.;  at  Cape  Girardeau,  318  f.; 
secondary  programs,  319  f.;  at  Cape  Girar- 
deau,  320;  standard  of  credit,  320;  conclu- 
sions on,  396. 

Progress  of  training  schools  in  selected  abilities, 
454,  455. 

Proposals  for  preparation  of  teachers  in  normal 
schools,  387  ff. 


470 


INDEX 


"  Proving  up"  for  admission  to  normal  schools, 
308,  310. 

Prussia,  Influence  of,  on  preparation  of  teach- 
ers in  United  States,  £5,  26. 

Psychology:  secondary  course  in,  174;  collegi- 
ate introductory  course  in,  178  f.;  advanced 
courses  in,  179 ;  significance  of,  in  teaching, 
179ff.;  proposed  reorganization  of,  l«2f., 
393;  experimental,  effect  of,  188;  courses  in, 
Table  1,  p.  406. 

Public  speaking,  Courses  in,  228,  Table  1,  p. 
406. 

Puckett,  C.  A.,  443. 

Purpose  of  normal  schools  :  statement  on  (1866), 
S3;  present,  78 if.,  391. 

QUALITY  of  administration  in  normal  schools, 

353  ff. 
Quality  of  students  in  normal  schools  as  rated 

by  their  high  school  principals,  121  f. ,  Table 

36,  p.  432  f. 
Quality  of  teaching  in  normal  schools,  247  ff. 

RATINGS  of  normal  school  students  by  theirhigh 
school  principals,  m  f.,  Table  36,  p.  433  f. 

Ratings  of  students  at  normal  schools,  391  ff.: 
selective  function  of,  321;  early  Missouri 
practice,  321  ;  failures  (1913-14),  p.  322, 
Table  44,  p.  435;  comparison  with  Harris 
Teachers  College,  323  f.;  seasonal  changes 
in,  325,  Table  45,  p.  435;  effect  of  examina- 
tions on,  325  f . ;  why  non-selective,  326 ;  lack 
of  examinations  a  weakness,  327 f.;  data 
concerning,  403. 

Ratings  of  students  from  high  schools  and  from 
normal  schools  compared,  123,  Table  37,  p. 
433. 

Reading,  Tests  of  training  schools  in,  451  f. 

Recommendations,  Statement  of,  387, 

Records  of  normal  schools;  at  Kirksvilte, 329, 
note  2,  330  if.;  at  Warrensburg,  336  f,;  at 
Cape  Girardeau,  337  ff.;  at  Springfield, 
339  if.;  at  Maryville,  341  f.;  suggested  sys- 
tem of,  342,  343,  note  1;  conclusions  on, 
396. 

Redlich,  Josef,  190. 

Religious  influence  in  Missouri  education,  19, 
35. 

Research  in  normal  schools,  110  f. 

Roberts,  Dorothy  R.,  6. 

Rolla,  Mo.,  City  of,  and  its  bond  issue,  36* 

Rousseau,!.  J.,  187. 

Rural  certificate,  163, 164  ff.,  173  ff. 

Rural  life  problems,  Course  In,  174  f. 

Rural  school  management,  175  f. 

Rural  school  teachers:  preparation  of,  160f.; 
attitude  of  normal  schools  toward,  165; 
number  required  in  Missouri,  266;  how  pro- 
vide for,  268  E;  inexperienced,  266;  normal 
school  graduates  (1915)  among,  357  f. 


in  teaching  population  (1915):  definition, 
numbers,  and  training  of,  361  f.;  attendance 
at  normal  schools,  362;  salaries  of,  362  f.; 
inexperienced,  training  of,  363. 
Russell,  William,  on  preparation  of  teachers 
(1823),  22  f. 

ST.  Louis :  rank  of  school  system  at,  21 ;  City 
Normal  School  at,  34;  should  have  a  state 
school,  60  f.;  inbreeding  of  teachers  detri- 
mental, 126;  apprentice  system  of  practice 
teaching  at,  202  ff.;  elementary  teachers  at, 
368  ff.;  high  school  teachers  at,  375  f.;  su- 
pervisors at,  371  f.;  see  «&<y,  Harris  Teach- 
ers College. 

St.  Louis  Normal  School,  see  Harris  Teachers 
College. 

Salaries  of  teachers:  attitude  of  educational 

officers  toward,  14. 

in  Missouri :  increases  indispensable,  269  f. ; 
effect  upon  quality  of  service,  382 f.;  in 
rural  schools,  363;  in  graded  elementary 
schools,  367  ff.;  in  high  schools,  375  f.;  of 
superintendents,  city  and  town,  379;  of 
county  superintendents,  380;  of  normal 
school  graduates  (1915),  359  f. 
in  normal  schools,  114 f.,  Tables  15, 16,  18,  pp. 
423 ff.;  departmental  distribution  of,  2H4, 
Table  16,  p.  424 ;  variation  in,  284;  by  grade 
of  work,  285,  Table  IB,  p.  425  ;  in  summer 
session,  290  f.,  Table  21,  p.  427. 
at  the  University  of  Missouri,  114,  Table  15, 
p.  423. 

Sanitation,  Courses  in,  239,  Table  1,  p.  408. 

Santee,  A.  M.,  Study  by,  194,  213. 

Scholarship,  Productive,  of  normal  school  teach- 
ers, 111  f. 

School  attendance  in  Missouri,  20. 

School  expenditure  in  Missouri,  20. 

School  management:  secondary  course  in  rural, 
175 ;  collegiate  course  in,  190,  Table  1,  p. 
406;  at  Harris  Teachers  College,  190 ;  rela- 
tion to  other  subjects,  191. 

School  sessions  in  Missouri,  Average  length  of, 
20. 

Schools  in  Missouri :  average  expenditure  per 
capita  of  school  population,  20;  average 
days  attendance  per  pupil,  20;  average  at- 
tendance per  school  child,  SO;  average 
length  of  session,  20;  per  cent  daily  attend- 
ance, SO;  per  cent  secondary  attendance, 
20;  average  monthly  salaries,  20;  income  of 
school  funds,  20;  illiteracy,  20. 

Science,  Courses  in,  23S,  239,  Table  1,  pp.  408  f. 

Scope  of  normal  school  organization,  $% ff.;  how 
determined,  89 ff.;  conclusions  as  to,  391; 
see  also  Normal  schools. 

Secondary  instruction :  by  normal  school  teach- 
ers, 3851,  Table  19,  p.  495;  in  normal 
schools,  166,  289,  295  if. ,  396. 

Secondary  professional  courses  and  curricula, 
see  Curricula. 


INDEX 


471 


Secondary  programs  of  normal  school  stu- 
dents, 319  f.,  Table  43,  p.  435. 

Secondary  students  in  normal  schools,  see  Stu- 
dents. 

Selective  function  of  normal  schools,  331 ;  why 
weak  in  Missouri,  326;  conclusions  on,  396. 

Self-help  among  normal  school  students,  Extent 
of,  118,  Table  31,  p.  431. 

Sequence:  of  professional  courses,  183 f.,  186, 
189,  191,  224,  393;  lack  of,  due  to  shifting 
attendance,  302 if.,  or  to  elective  system, 
166  ff.,  278  f. 

Service  of  Missouri  normal  schools  to  the  state, 
4.1,  380  ff. 

Sex:  of  teachers  in  normal  schools,  99,  Table  5, 
p.  419;  of  students  in  normal  schools,  117. 
Table  22,  p.  428. 

Skill  versus  professional  intelligence  in  teach- 
ing, 179  ff.,  393. 

Shannon,  R.  D.,  38;  on  boards  of  regents,  43. 

Shaw,  E.  A.,  443. 

Slavery  in  Missouri,  18. 

Soldan  High  School,  St.  Louis :  degrees  of  teach- 
ers in,  101,  Table  8  B,  p.  420;  experience  of 
teachers  in,  107,  note. 

South  Carolina,  Proportion  of  secondary  school 
attendance  in,  20,  note. 

Southern  states,  Influence  of,  on  educational 
development  of  Missouri,  19. 

"Special  methods"  courses,  325  ff. 

Spelling,  Tests  of  training  schools  in,  449  f. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  186,  187. 

Spencer,  John  C.,  on  preparation  of  teachers, 
30. 

Springfield,  Normal  school  at :  establishment  of, 
31;  location  of,  36;  crowded  conditions  at, 
49;  conception  of  function,  73;  attitude 
toward  examinations,  310,  note  4;  records 
at,  339  f.;  administration  of  credit  at,  339  ff.; 
notable  traits  in,  356. 

Teachers  at:  data  from,  402;  training  of, 
101  f.,  Table  8,  p.  420;  programs  of,  108, 
Table  17,  p.  425;  salary  of,  114,  Table  15, 
p.  423;  salaries  by  departments,  284,  Table 
16,  p.  424;  salaries  in  the  department  of  ed- 
ucation, 285;  meetings  of,  275;  leaves  of 
absence,  281 ;  extent  of  secondary  instruc- 
tion, Table  19,  p.  425;  summer  instructors: 
training  of,  289,  Table  20,  p.  426;  salaries 
and  programs  of,  Table  21,  p.  437. 
Students  at :  data  from,  403  f. ;  attendance  of, 
37;  classified  total  enrolment,  Tables  22-25, 
pp.  428  f.;  proportion  of  secondary  attend- 
ance, 301,  note,  Table  25,  p.  429;  teachers 
opinions  on  irregular  attendance,  306 ;  na- 
tionality of  parents  of,  Table  27,  p.  429;  oc- 
cupation of  father,  Table  28,  p.  430;  income 
of  father,  Table  29,  p.  431;  size  of  family, 
Table  32,  p.  431 ;  other  teachers  in  family, 
Table  33,  p.  432;  normal  school  attendance 
of  family,  Table  34,  p.  432;  high  school  at- 
tendance of,  119,  note  6,  Table  35,  p.  432; 


teaching  experience  of,  Table  38,  p.  433; 
programs  of  (1913-14),  298, 318,  Tables  42, 
43,  pp.  434  f.;  grades  of  (1913-14),  322,  Ta- 
bles 37,  44,  45,  pp.  433,  435;  comparison 
of  grades  of  students  prepared  at  normal 
schools  and  those  prepared  at  high  schools, 
122,  Table  37,  p.  433;  method  of  classifica- 
tion, 316;  size  of  classes,  264,  Table  46, 
p.  436. 

Curriculum :  observation,  212,  Table  1,  p.  406 ; 
modern  foreign  languages,  234,  Tables  1,  2, 
pp.  407,  411 ;  history  and  government,  235, 
Tables  1, 2,  pp.  407 f.,  411 ;  botany,  zoology, 
physiology,  etc.,  239,  Table  1,  p.  408 geo- 
graphy, 240,  Tables  1,  2,  pp.  408,  411;  com- 
mercial subjects,  244,  Tables  1,2,  pp.  409 f., 
411;  home  economics,  246,  Tables  1,  2,  pp. 
410  f. ;  physical  training,  247,  Tables  1,  2,  pp. 
410  f. ;  practice  facilities,  195  ff. 
Training  school  at:  housing  and  equipment 
of,  197 ;  organization  of,  201 ;  morale  of, 
205,  207  ;  standard  tests  of,  209 f.,  443  ff.: 
arithmetic,  446  ff. ,  455  ;  spelling,  449  f. ;  pen- 
manship, 450  f.;  reading,  451  f.;  composi- 
tion, 452;  final  rank,  453;  progress  in  selected 
abilities,  454  f.;  selected  correlations,  454, 
456;  lesson  plans,  216;  supervision  of  prac- 
tice teaching,  217;  conferences  of  practice 
teachers,  218;  program  of  training  school, 
220;  state  course  of  study  in,  222. 
Product  of:  in  teaching  population:  rural 
teachers,  362;  graded  elementary  teachers, 
365  f. ,  Tables  51-55,  pp.  438  f. ;  Kansas  City 
teachers,  370,  note;  high  school  teachers, 
374,  note  6,  Table  57,  p.  439 ;  city  and  town 
superintendents,  378;  county  superintend- 
ents, 380,  note;  four-year  bachelor's  de- 
grees, 88,  note  3,  Table  48,  p.  437;  employ- 
ment of  graduates  (1915),  437  f. ;  judgments 
of  graduates  as  to  training,  442. 

Staff,  Teaching,  in  normal  schools,  see  Teachers 
in  normal  schools. 

Standard  of  credit  in  normal  schools,  320. 

"Standard"    enrolment    in  Missouri   normal 
schools,  Table  23  B,  p.  428. 

"Standard"  institutions,  90  f. 

Standard  tests  in  the  training  schools,  209  f., 
443  ff. 

Standards  of  preparation,  Changes  in,  recom- 
mended, 9. 

Standards,  Provisional,  for  curricula,  4. 

State  appropriations  for  normal  schools,  38  f., 
441. 

State  Board  of  Education,  see  Board  of  Educa- 
tion. 

State  department  of  education,  see  Superintend- 
ent. 

State  educational  administration,  Advantages 
and  conditions  of,  64  f. 

State  high  schools,  300,  396. 

State  of  Missouri,  see  Missouri. 

State  normal  schools  in  the  United  States, 
Dates  of  first  establishment  of,  418. 


472 


INDEX 


State  superintendent  of  public  schools,  see  Su- 
perintendent. 

Statistics:  of  normal  school  graduates  (1915), 
357  ff.,  Tables  48-50,  pp.  4371;  of  normal 
school  students,  I  IT  if.,  292  ff.,  402  if.,  Ta- 
bles 22-50,  pp.  428-438;  of  normal  school 
teachers,  99  ff.,  272 ff.,  401  1,  Tables  5-21, 
pp.  419-427;  of  teaching  population,  361  if., 
405,  Tables  51-57,  pp.  438  f. 

Status  of  teachers,  Distinctions  in,  9,  132  if. 

Stone  reasoning  test,  449. 

Stowe,  Calvin  E. ,  on  preparation  of  teachers 
(1837),  25  f. 

Strayer,  George  D.,5,  404. 

Students,  College  age  of:  at  Harvard,  298, 
note  1 ;  at  Columbia,  298,  note  1. 

Students  at  Harris  Teachers  College,  125  f. 

Students  in  normal  schools,  36,  117  if.,  292  if., 
428  if.;  data  from,  402  ff.;  age  and  sex, 
nationality  and  nativity,  117,  Tables  26, 27, 
p.  429;  parental  occupation  and  income, 

117,  Tables  28,  29,  pp.  430  f.;  size  of  family, 

118,  Table  32,  p.  431;  choice  of  vocation, 
reasons  for,  118;  other  teachers  in  family, 
118,  Table  33,  p.  432;  attendance  of  family 
at  normal  school,  118,  Table  34,  p.  432; 
financial  attraction  of  teaching,  118,  Table 

30,  p.  431;  extent  of  self-help,  118,  Table 

31,  p.  431;  teaching  experience,  123,  Tables 
38,  39,  p.  433. 

Previous  education  of,  119  f.;  high  school 
attendance,  119  f.,  S96,  Table  35,  p.  432; 
accessibility  of  high  schools,  120;  effect 
of  high  school  graduation  on  degrees,  119, 
note  6. 

Classified  total  enrolment  of,  Table  92,  p. 
428;  "standard"  enrolment,  Table  22  B., 
p.  428 ;  secondary  enrolment,  Table  25,  p. 
429 ;  effect  of  distance  on  attendance,  1 18  f.; 
nature  of  local  attendance,  119 ;  bad  results 
of  unregulated  attendance,  302  ff.;  regu- 
lated attendance  desirable,  304  if. ,  and  feas- 
ible, 306  ;  personal  advantage  placed  above 
needs  of  the  service,  161. 

Problems  in  selection,  organization,  and  ad- 
ministration of,  292  ff.;  admission,  307  ff.; 
classification,  177,  313  ff.;  size  of  classes, 
S58,  264  f.,  Tables  46,  47,  pp.  436  f.;  pro- 
grams, 317  ff.,  396,  Tables  42,  43,  pp.  434 f.; 
speed  the  central  consideration,  317;  rat- 
ings, 321  ff.,  Tables  44,  45,  p.  435;  ratings 
of  students  prepared  at  normal  schools 
versus  students  prepared  at  high  schools, 
122 f.,  Table  37,  p.  433. 

Problem  of  male  attendance,  81, 117,  292  ff., 
Tables  23,  24,  p.  428;  motives  in,  292, 
Tables  40,  41,  p.  434;  reaction  on  institu- 
tion, 293;  efforts  to  retain,  293;  proportion 
of  men  enrolled  (1913-14),  Table  23,  p.  428; 
changes  in  proportion  of  men  since  1871, 
Table  24,  p.  428. 

Problem  of  secondary  attendance,  295  ff., 
Tables  22,  25,  pp.  428  f.;  quality  and  char- 


acteristics of,  295-298;  suggested  treatment 
of,  298-301. 

Graduation,  certification,  and  appointment, 
344  ff.,  396;  intentions  as  to  teaching,  74, 
124,  292  f.,  Tables  40, 41,  p.  434;  as  to  study 
elsewhere,  124 ;  attendance  at  colleges,  123 ; 
attendance  at  other  normal  schools,  123; 
positions  sought,  92  f.,  29 ls  Table  41,  p. 
434;  graduates  of  1915,  357  if.,  Tables  49, 
50,  pp.  437  f. ;  students  among  the  teaching- 
population,  361  ff.,  Tables  51-57,  pp.  438  f. 
Quality  of,  as  rated  by  their  high  school  prin- 
cipals, 121  f.,  404,  Table  36,  pp.  4321;  as 
shown  at  the  University  of  Missouri,  360. 
Effects  of  normal  school  reorganization  on, 
57  ff. ;  not  qualified  to  elect  studies,  146 ;  at- 
titude of,  not  improved  by  election,  1471; 
effects  of  quality  of  administration  on,  353  f. ; 
as  normal  school  instructors,  286, 290, Table 
21,  p.  427 ;  ratio  of,  to  supervisors,  213. 
Conclusions  regarding,  396. 

Students  at  the  University  of  Missouri,  118; 
size  of  family,  118. 

Study  of  preparation  of  teachers,  see  Prepara- 
tion of  teachers. 

Subject-matter  courses,  how  professionalized, 
149  if. ,  227,  231,  234  ff. ,  393. 

Subjects  taught :  by  Missouri  high  school  teach- 
ers, 268,  Table  58,  p.  440;  by  normal  school 
graduates  (1915),  p.  359  ;  in  Missouri  nor- 
mal schools,  combinations  of,  107  f. /  see  also 
Courses. 

44  Sub-normal"  department  in  normal  schools, 
308. 

Summarizing  courses,  Place  of,  183,  SS4,  393. 

Summer  session :  introduced  at  Warrensburg, 
36,  301,  note ;  teachers  in,  108 f.,  288 ff., 
395,  401,  Tables  17,  19,  20,  21,  pp.  425 ff.; 
regulation  of  curriculum  in,  306 ;  adminis- 
tration of,290ff. 

Superintendent,  State:  office  established,  19; 
reports  of,  6;  John  Monteith,  35;  on 
early  normal  schools,  71,  83 f.;  R.  D.  Shan- 
non, 38;  W.  E.  Coleman,  39;  past  services 
of,  19;  method  of  election,  65;  relation  to 
training  institutions,  65,  67  f.;  in  Iowa,  66; 
in  Kansas,  66;  in  Massachusetts,  66;  in 
Montana,  66 f.;  should  determine  entrance 
credentials  for  normal  schools,  312;  share 
in  certification  of  teachers,  348;  powers 
transferred  to  proposed  board  of  educa- 
tion, 390. 

Superintendents,  City  and  town:  data  from, 
404;  tenure  of,  159 f.;  demand  for  skilled, 
140;  attitude  toward  teachers*  salaries,  14; 
attitude  toward  normal  schools,  350,  381 ; 
fail  to  discriminate  in  teachers,  350  f. ;  nor- 
mal school  graduates  (1915)  among,  358; 
in  Missouri  teaching  population  (1915): 
number  and  training,  3761;  contribution 
of  normal  schools  to,  377  1;  salaries  of, 
379. 
County :  data  from,  404 ;  duties  and  qualinca- 


INDEX  473 


tions  of,  379  f.;  training  and  salary  of,  379  f. ; 
responsibility  for,  380. 

Supervision,  Changes  in,  desirable,  10. 
in  Missouri,  county:  established,  19;  abol- 
ished, 19;  reestablished,  19. 
in  normal  schools:  lack  of,  249  if.;  "educa- 
tional adviser"  proposed,   255  f.;  faculty 
committee  for,  257;  departmental  aid  in, 
257. 

of  practice  teaching,  213  ff.;  lesson  plans, 
215;  class  inspection,  216;  conferences, 
217;  testing  results,  219;  ratio  of  student- 
teachers  to  supervisors,  213,  note  1 ;  status 
and  equipment  of  supervisors,  213  f. 

Supervisors,  Elementary :  at  St.  Louis,  371  f. ; 
at  Kansas  City,  371  f. 

Supervisors  of  practice  teaching:  training  of, 
100,  213  f.,  283,  Table  9,  p.  421;  salaries  of, 
213,  284 f.,  Table  16,  p.  424. 

Supply  of  teachers  in  Missouri,  265  ff. 

Systematic  and  summarizing  courses,  Place 
of,  393. 

TEACHERS:  importance  of,  to  education,  8; 
changes  necessary  in  profession,  xviii,  9; 
distinctions  in  status  of,  9,  135  ff. ;  disparity 
in  status  an  obstacle  to  progress,  137; 
length  of  preparation,  9;  as  artists,  179, 
235,  255;  "born"  versus  trained,  252;  re- 
ward and  status  of,  10,  81  f. 
Married  women :  attitude  toward,  139  ff.;  why 
not  employed,  140  f.;  efficiency  and  special 
qualifications  of,  141  f.;  prohibition  of, 
harmful,  11,  142 ff.;  would  improve  condi- 
tions, 144. 

Responsibility  of,  to  public,  xvii,  12;  better 
salaries  for,  attitude  of  educational  officers 
toward,  14;  money  available  for,  14;  rela- 
tion of  state  administration  to,  64  f. ;  prep- 
aration and  supply  of,  a  state  problem,  65 ; 
tenure  of,  see  Tenure. 

Teachers  at  Harris  Teachers  College,  116. 

Teachers  in  Missouri  normal  schools,  99  ff., 
276  ff. ;  cooperation  of,  in  the  present  study, 
61;  data  from,  401  ff.,  403;  statistics  con- 
cerning. Tables  5-21,  pp.  419  if.;  age,  sex, 
parentage  of,  99,  Tables  5,  6,  p.  419;  other 
teachers  in  family  of,  99,  Table  7,  p.  419. 
Training  of:  secondary,  99;  degrees  held, 
100 ff.,  Tables  8-10,  pp.  420 ff.;  degrees 
compared  with  Soldan  High  School  and 
state  university,  101,  Table  8  B,  p.  420; 
geography  of  training,  102 ;  sources  of  de- 
grees, 102,  Table  10,  p.  422;  combinations 
of  training,  102  f.,  Table  11,  p.  422;  retar- 
dation in  training,  103  f.;  retardation 
and  graduate  work,  104  f.;  departmental 
distribution  of  degrees,  282  ff.,  Table  9,  p. 
421. 

Experience  in  teaching,  105,  Table  12,  p.  422; 
combinations  of  experience,  106,  Table  13, 
p.  423;  varieties  of  experience,  106,  Table 
14,  p.  423;  experience  in  local  conditions, 


281;  visits  to  local  schools,  282;  exchange 
with  local  teachers,  282. 

Economic  status  of,  113 ff.;  family  and  de- 
pendents of,  113;  salaries  of,  114f.,  Table 
15,  p.  423;  salaries  by  departments,  284  f., 
Table  16,  p.  424;  salaries  by  grade  of  work, 
285  f.,  Table  18,  p.  425;  work  of  best-paid, 
114f.;  insurance  of,  116. 

Appointment  and  tenure  of,  113,  280 f.;  not 
true  faculties,  276  f.,  395;  ranking  of,  277; 
effects  of  elective  system  on,  277  ff. ;  depart- 
mental initiative,  277;  leaves  of  absence, 
281  f.;  secondary  versus  collegiate  work  of, 
285,  Table  19,  p.  425;  effect  of  secondary 
work  on,  286;  teaching  assignment,  107  f.; 
length  of  programs,  108  £.,  Table  17,p.  425; 
wasteful  use  of,  258,  Tables  46,  47,  pp. 
436  f.;  effect  of  universities  on,  76 f.,  102; 
cleavage  among,  77,  80  f.;  of  professional 
subjects,  status  of,  100,  213 f.,  248,  284 f., 
395,  Tables  9,  16,  pp.  4-21,  424;  of  academic 
subjects,  199  ff.,  394;  collegiate  standards 
applied  to,  110,  286,  395 ;  part-time  and  stu- 
dent assistants,  286  f.,  395. 

Quality  of,  286;  in  professional  subjects. 
248;  in  agriculture,  248;  in  natural  sciences, 
248;  compared  with  supervised  teachers, 
249;  primary  function  of,  248;  means  for 
improvement  of,  253  f, ;  productive  scholar- 
ship of,  111  f.;  attitude  toward  professional 
work,  112. 

in  summer  sessions,  288  ff. :  training  of,  289, 
395,  Table  20,  p.  426;  hours  and  salaries  of, 
290,  395,  Table  21,  p.  427. 

Place  of,  in  a  reorganized  system,  57  f.,  395. 
Teachers  in  Missouri  public  schools:  data  from, 
3,465;  average  monthly  salaries  of,  20; 
census  of  the  teaching  population,  3, 265  ff., 
361  ff.,405,  Tables  51-58,  pp.  438  ff.;  num- 
ber and  kind  needed,  265  ff.;  supply  of, 
how  to  be  secured,  268  ff.,  383;  legislation 
required  for,  269,  305,  388  ff.;  certification 
of,  345  ff.,  396;  as  officers  of  the  state,  347; 
appointment  of,  from  normal  schools, 
349 ff,,  396;  in  service,  normal  schools  re- 
sponsible for,  352;  judgment  of,  concern- 
ing elements  in  training,  404, 442;  propos- 
als for  preparation  of,  387  ff.;  proposals  for 
salaries  of,  383;  effect  of  salaries  on  quality 
of  service,  382  f . 

in  high  schools :  distinguished  from  elemen- 
tary teachers,  135;  why  longer  training,  13% 
preparation  furnished  in  normal  schools, 
85;  curricula  for,  in  normal  schools,  152; 
number  and  kind  needed  in  Missouri  (1915), 
267  f. ;  inexperienced  group  of,  268;  subjects 
taught  by,  268,  Table  58,  p.  440;  tenure  of, 
267  f.;  training  of  (1915),  268, 371  ff.,  Tables 
56,  57,  p.  439;  duration  and  character  of 
normal  school  attendance,  373  ff.,  376, 
Tables  56,  57,  p.  439;  salaries  of,  375  f. 

in  graded  elementary  schools :  early  normal 
schools  chiefly  for,  83 1;  distinguishedfrom 
high  school  teachers,  135 f.;  why  shorter 


474 


INDEX 


training,  132  ff.;  lack  of  professional  effort 
among,  143  £.;  number  and  kind  needed, 
267;  inexperienced  group  of,  367;  tenure  of, 
267,367  f.;  preparation  of  (1915),  267,  364  ff.; 
duration  and  character  of  normal  school  at- 
tendance, 365  f.,  369  f.,  Tables  51-55,  pp. 
438 f.;  salaries  of,  137,  367 f.,  370  f.,  373, 
383. 

in  rural  schools:  number  and  kind  needed, 
266;  inexperienced  group  of,  266,3631; 
preparation  of  (1915),  266,  361  ff.;  duration 
and  character  of  normal  school  attendance, 
362 f.;  salaries  of,  269  f.,  362  f.,  383. 

Teachers  in  United  States,  Preparation  of, 
earliest  advocacy  of,  22  ff.;  early  writers  on, 
22  if.;  early  experiments, 23  f.;  development 
of  public  opinion,  24;  efforts  of  educational 
leaders,  25  f . ;  example  of  Germany,  25,  27 ; 
Francke's  Seminarium  praeceptorum,  27; 
popularized  by  Charles  Brooks,  25;  see  fur- 
ther, Normal  schools  in  United  States. 

Teachers  College,  New  York :  general  examina- 
tion at,  338 ;  treatment  of  data  at,  405. 

Teachers,  Colored,  see  Lincoln  Institute. 

Teaching:  elements  of  technique  in,  251  f.;  as 
a  fine  art,  179,  235,  251,  255;  use  of  good 
models  in,  253 ;  criticism  of,  desirable,  355 ; 
opportunity  for  an  "educational  adviser" 
for,  955,  395 ;  intentions  of  students  in  nor- 
mal schools  as  to,  74,  124,  £93,  Tables  40, 
41,  p.  434. 

Teaching  in  normal  schools:  versus  research, 
1101;  the  foremost  feature,  111;  quality 
of,  important  to  the  curriculum,  247  ff.; 
characteristics  of,  S48;  should  be  exem- 
plary, 249,  394 1 

Teaching,  Student,  in  normal  schools :  position 
of,  in  normal  school  curriculum,  224, 392 1 ; 
skill  versus  professional  intelligence  in, 
180  f.,  187,  393;  models  of,  2351 

Teaching  experience,  see  Experience. 

Teaching  population  of  Missouri :  statistics  of, 
265  ff.,  361  ff.,  405,  Tables  51-57,  pp.  438  f. 

Technique  in  teaching,  see  Teaching. 

Tenure:  of  elementary  teachers,  136;  of  elemen- 
tary teachers  in  Missouri  (1915),  267;  of  high 
school  teachers  in  Missouri  (1915),  267;  ef- 
fect of  marriage  on,  139  ff. ;  waste  of  present 
system,  1421;  in  Europe,  effects  of,  143; 
of  normal  school  teachers,  113,  280. 

Tests  of  training-school  work,  5,  2091,  219, 
404,  443  ff. 

Thorndike,  E.  L.,  148,  442,  454. 

Training  classes,  High  school:  in  Minnesota, 
176;  product  of,  266,  3621;  increased  de- 
mands upon,  269. 

Training  of  teachers,  see  Preparation  of  teach- 
ers. 

Training  (normal)  schools,  City:  curricula  in, 
169,  Table  4,  pp.  4171;  weakness  of,  171; 
opportunities  of,  172;  problems  of,  com- 
pared with  state  normal  schools,  272 ;  col- 
lection and  treatment  of  data  at,  402  ff. 


Training  schools  for  practice  teaching  in  Mis- 
souri, 192  ff.;  established,  36;  size  of,  192; 
formulae  for  size  of,  195;  minimal  practice 
facilities,  193;  control  of  local  facilities  ne- 
cessary, 193,  394;  size  of  practice  classes, 
193  1;  proportion  of  student-teaching,  194; 
facilities  at  the  normal  schools,  195  ff.; 
housing-  and  equipment  of,  197;  bad  con- 
ditions easily  remedied,  198;  relations  with 
other  departments,  199,  3931;  lack  of  co- 
operation, 199  if.;  difficulties  of  coopera- 
tion, 201;  organized  cooperation,  2011; 
organization  of,  202,  394;  qualifications  of 
"  Cabinet,"  202;  spirit  and  morale,  205; 
reasons  for  low  morale,  207;  laissez-faire 
policy  a  mistake,  20S;  program  of  studies 
in,  219;  experiments  with  the  curriculum, 
220;  facilities  at  Harris  Teachers  College, 
196;  apprentice  system,  202  1;  defects  and 
advantages,  203;  suggested  improvements, 
204  1 

Practice  teaching  in :  secondary  curricula,  176, 
392;  prerequisite  courses  in  observation, 
211  1;  supervision  of,  213  ff.;  supervisory 
staff,  3131;  methods,  214  ff.;  inspection  of 
class  work,  216;  testing  results  of,  219; 
concentrated  versus  distributed,  222  ff.;  con- 
centrated form  at  Harris  Teachers  College, 
224;  most  favorable  position  of,  224;  parti- 
cipation should  begin  early,  221. 

Results  of  standard  tests,  5,  §09  f.,  404, 
443  ff.;  arithmetic,  446  ff.,  455;  spelling, 
4491;  penmanship,  4501,  455;  reading-, 
451 1, 455;  composition,  452;  final  ranking, 
453;  correlations,  454,  456;  progress  in  se- 
lected abilities,  454,  455;  performance  in 
Courtis  tests,  455. 

UNIVERSITIES:  preparation  of  teachers  in,  4; 
should  include  the  normal  schools,  13, 55  ff.r 
388  ff. ;  criticisms  of  normal  schools  by,  76 1 , 
951 

University  of  Missouri:  early  plan  for  teacher- 
training,  34;  school  of  education  estab- 
lished, 87;  relations  with  high  schools,  52, 
87;  "approved  list"  of  high  schools  used 
by  normal  schools,  308 ;  relations  with  nor- 
mal schools,  39 1, 51 1,  89;  training  of  nor- 
mal school  teachers  at,  102,  Table  10,  p. 
422;  should  include  normal  schools,  12, 
55ff.,388ff. 

History  and  government,  courses  in,  235;  an- 
cient languages,  courses  in,  232;  English, 
courses  in,  228;  mathematics,  courses  in, 
236;  small  classes  justified,  260;  proportion 
of  failures  at,  323,  note  1. 
Teachers  at:  degrees  of,  101,  Table  8  B,  p. 
420;  combinations  of  training,  102 1,  Table 
11,  p.  422;  experience  of,  106,  Table  12,  p. 
422;  salaries  of,  114,  Table  15,  p.  423. 
Elementary  experimental  school  at,  443,  note 
1;  program  of  studies  of,  220;  standard 
tests  of,  443  ff.;  arithmetic,  446  ff.,  455; 
spelling,  449;  penmanship,  450;  reading, 


INDEX 


475 


451;    composition,  452  f. ;    final   rank,  453; 
progress    in   selected    abilities,   454  f. ;    se- 
lected correlations,  454,  456. 
Product  of:  normal  school  students,  360  f.; 
among  the    teaching-  population:  elemen- 
tary teachers,  370;  high  school   teachers, 
373  f,,    376;    superintendents,    377  f.,    380; 
judgments  of  graduates  as  to  training,  442. 
Upper  grades,  Training  for,  154. 

VANBIVER,  W.  D.,  84. 

Visits  to  the  normal  schools,  Data  concerning, 
404. 

WAR,  The  Great:  effect  on  education,  xviii;  on 

the  normal  schools,  6. 

Warrensburg,  Normal  school  at:  establishment 
of,  34  f. ;  county  promoters  repudiate 
pledge,  35;  growth  in  numbers,  37;  finan- 
cial obstacles,  38;  age  limit  raised,  39;  lo- 
cal character  of  first  board,  43;  politics  in 
Board  of  Regents,  47  f.;  need  of  funds  at, 
49;  early  professional  purpose,  70;  pledge 
to  teach,  73,  307;  fidelity  to  professional 
purpose,  73,  355;  function  of  president  at, 
274;  removal  of  president,  47  f.,  281,  note; 
records  at,  336;  administration  of  credit  at, 
336  f . ;  first  summer  session  introduced,  36, 
301,  note  2;  attitude  toward  examinations, 
310,  note  4. 

Teachers  at :  data  from,  4O1  f.;  degrees  of, 
Table  8,  p.  430 ;  salaries  of,  114,  Table  15, 
p.  493;  salaries  by  departments,  Table  16, 
p.  424;  salaries  in  department  of  education, 
284;  programs  of,  108,  Table  17,  p.  425; 
secondary  instruction  required  of,  Table  19, 
p.  425;  teachers'  meetings,  275  ;  part-time 
student  instructors,  286;  summer  instruc- 
tors, 289  :  training  of,  Table  20,  p.  426;  sal- 
aries and  programs  of,  Table  21,  p.  427. 

Students  at :  data  from,  403  f . ;  classified  en- 
rolment, Table  22,  p.  428;  " standard"  en- 
rolment, Table  22  B,  p.  428;  proportion  of 
men,  Table  23,  p.  428 ;  secondary  enrolment, 
Table  25,  p.  429;  nationality  of  parents, 
Table  27,  p.  429;  occupation  of  father,  Table 
28,  p.  430;  income  of  father,  Table  29,  p. 
431 ;  size  of  family,  Table  32,  p.  431 ;  other 
teachers  in  family,  Table  33,  p.  432 ;  normal 
school  attendance  of  family,  Table  34,  p. 
432;  high  school  attendance,  120,  note  3, 
Table  35,  p.  432 ;  teaching  experience,  Table 
38,  p.  433 ;  teaching  intentions,  Table  40,  p. 
434;  programs  of,  318  f.,  Tables  42,  43,  pp. 


434  f. ;  grades  of,  Tables  44,  45,  p.  435;  com- 
parison of  grades  of  students  prepared  at 
normal  schools  and  those  prepared  at  high 
schools,  Table  37,  p.  433;  size  of  classes, 
Table  46,  p.  436;  method  of  classification, 
316;  credentials  required  for  credit,  311; 
** approved  list"  of  high  schools  recog- 
nized, 31 1 ;  teacher  and  student  opinion  on 
irregular  attendance  of,  306. 
Curriculum  at :  rural  life  problems,  175,  note; 
modern  foreign  languages,  234,  Table  1,  p. 
407;  mathematics,  237,  Tables  1,2,  pp.  408, 
411 ;  hygiene,  24O,  Table  1,  p.  4O8;  commer- 
cial subjects,  243,  Tables  1,2,  pp.  409  if., 
411;  physical  training,  247,  Tables  1,  2, 
pp.  410  f.;  practice  facilities,  195  ff. 
Training  school  at:  housing  and  equipment 
of,  197;  lack  of  cooperation  in,  199;  dem- 
onstration teaching,  212  f. ;  lesson  plans, 
216;  tests  of  training-school  work,  443  ff.; 
arithmetic,  446  f£. ,  455 ;  spelling,  449  f . ; 
penmanship,  450  f.;  reading,  451;  compo- 
sition, 452  f.;  final  rank,  453;  progress  in 
selected  abilities,  454  f.;  selected  correla- 
tions, 454,  456. 

Product  of:  in  teaching  population  :  rural 
teachers,  362 ;  graded  elementary  teachers, 
365  f.,  Tables  51-55,  pp.  438  f.;  Kansas  City 
teachers,  370,  note;  high  school  teachers, 
51,  374,  note,  Table  57,  p.  439;  city  and 
town  superintendents,  378;  county  super- 
intendents, 380,  note;  analysis  made  of 
candidates  for  appointment,  351  ;  propor- 
tion of  graduates,  345,  357;  four-year 
bachelor's  degrees  from,  344,  Table  48,  p. 
437;  employment  of  graduates  of  (1915), 
Table  49,  pp.  437  f.;  judgments  of  gradu- 
ates as  to  training,  442. 

Washington  University,  St.  Louis,   experience 
of  teachers  in,  106. 

Waste  in  normal  school  administration,  258  iff., 
302  ff.,  313  if.,  Tables  46,  47,  pp.  436  f. 

Whipple,  G.  M.,  183,  note. 

Winona,  Minn.,  Normal  school  at,  32  f. 

Wisconsin :  educational  organization  in,   65  f. ; 
normal  school  survey  in,  181,  note. 

Woodbridge,    William    C.,    on   preparation    of 
teachers  (1831),  25. 

Yornsro,  Samuel,  on  preparation  of  teachers,  30. 
Ypsilanti,  State  normal  school  at,  31 ;  curricu- 
lum in,  32. 

ZOOLOGY-,  Courses  in,  239,  Table  1,  p.  408. 


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